Shostakovich’s Spanish Songs

Following her involvement in the January 1955 premiere of Shostakovich’s song cycle From Jewish Folk Poetry, Zara Dolukhanova approached the composer with a set of folk songs from Spain. Hoping for a similarly esoteric and evocative set of pieces to perform, the Armenian mezzo-soprano was rather disappointed with what Shostakovich delivered. His take on the songs, including ‘Farewell, Granada’ and ‘Little stars’, actually represent very straightforward arrangements of the original tunes. Dolukhanova quickly tired of them, though other singers were more than happy to take them on.