They will not have known it from each other. In 1948, however, both Shostakovich and Ronald Stevenson came into conflict with their respective governments. In Shostakovich's case, one of the reasons was his overly frivolous Ninth Symphony. Stevenson, a Scotsman, was jailed for a year for refusing to serve. Stevenson eventually became a pianist, composer and music critic. Political activism and piano
… virtuosity (à la Busoni) went hand in hand with him, comparable to Frederic Rzewski. The music of non-European cultures was also a stimulus. In this edition by Igor Levit, Shostakovich and Stevenson stand side by side. Shostakovich with his impressive Preludes and Fugues op.87, modelled on Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier. Stevenson with his equally ambitious CD Passacaglia On DSCH. So those are the notes d-es-c-b (=h), after the name D(imitri) SCH(ostakovitsch). (HJ)more