Dmitri Shostakovich Cello Sonata Op. 40 (1934)

Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich ( Дмитрий Дмитриевич Шостакович tr. Dmitriy Dmitrievich Shostakovich, 25 September 12 September 1906 9 August 1975) was a Russian composer and pianist. He is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century. Cello Sonata Op. 40 (1934) 1. Allegro non troppo 2. Allegro 3. Largo 4. Allegro Mstislav Rostropovich, cello and Dmitri Shostakovich, piano The Sonata for Cello and Piano in D minor, Op. 40, was one of Dmitri Shostakovich s early works, composed in 1934 just prior to the censure by Soviet authorities of his music, notably the opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, which was deemed too bourgeois and decadent for the Soviet people. It was also a period of emotional turmoil in his life, as he had fallen in love with a young student at a Leningrad festival featuring his Lady Macbeth. Their affair resulted in a brief divorce from his wife Nina, and it was in August, during their period of separation, that he wrote the cello sonata, completing it within a few w