Galina Vishnevskaya & Dmitri Shostakovich play Shostakovich Satires - video

This is a very special recording of Shostakovich’s last public performance at the piano. It comes from a recital in the Glinka Hall of the Petersburg Philharmonia on 28 May 1966. Vishnevskaya sang Shostakovich’s Satires, op. 109, with Shostakovich playing the piano. We know from his letter to Isaak Glikman that the rest of the programme comprised: First Half Preface to the Complete Edition of My Works (premiere) 5 Humoresques from Krokodil, op. 121, with Evgeny Nesterenko (premiere) Shakespeare’s Sixty-Sixth Sonnet, translated by Pasternak (op. 62) ’Jenny’ by Burns, translated by Marshak (later op. 140) Satires op. 109 with Vishnevskaya Second Half First Quartet Eleventh Quartet (premiere), with the Beethoven Quartet Vishnevskaya also sang fragments of Katerina Izmailova with Shostakovich at some point in the programme By his own admission Shostakovich was terribly nervous to perform, and Vishnevskaya later said he was terrified to go on. Th