Sikorski
‘The fugue for solo violin was found in Alfred Schnittke's archive after his death. The work is undated, but we know that it dates from 1953. It is already masterfully crafted and shows not only a thorough knowledge of the instrument, but also some of Schnittke's characteristic stylistic features. It is interesting to observe how the composer treats the theme of the fugue, whose diatonicism virtually explodes with the appearance of the chromatic major seventh. The development of the theme leads to a ‘dead end’, from which the composer finally finds a way out in the coda after several attempts.
The fugue is interestingly ‘orchestrated’ in that its theme appears in various guises, even in pizzicato, which is practically unheard of in any work of this genre.
The world premiere of this fugue took place on 23 October 1999 in New York by Oleh Krysa.’ (Viktor Suslin)