Ouverture on Russian & Kirghiz Folk Themes Op. 115

Abstract

In the spring of 1963, Shostakovich traveled in Kirghizistan, a republic of the U.S.S.R. that bordered China, Afghanistan, and India. In the ten days he was there, Shostakovich estimated that he traveled over 3,000 kilometers. One of his most memorable meetings was with Kirghiz folk musicians (there exists a wonderful photograph of Shostakovich sitting cross-legged on the floor listening to an ensemble playing Khirghiz folk music). When Shostakovich was commissioned later that year to compose a work celebrating the centenary "voluntary incorporation" (i.e., conquest and annexation) of Kirghizistan, he thus had firsthand knowledge of the native music upon which he could draw. The resulting Overture on Russian and Kirghiz Folksongs, Op. 115, is thus a relatively authentic piece of Kirghiz music interwoven with a Russian theme that Shostakovich had heard in the Omsk region of Siberia. A straightforward work that combines catchy, folk-inflected melodies with brilliant orchestrations, Shostakovich's Overture on Russian and Kirghiz Folksongs is an occasional piece of no particular profundity but with its own considerable ethnic charm.