EDITOR'S PREFACE
The cycle of 24 preludes and fugues for piano was composed by Viktor Poltoratsky in 1967-71. The young composer's outstanding mastership is undeniable, his writing is brilliant and variegated, ranging from humour and parody to tenderness and drama. He liked to intersperse his music with quotations. For instance, in Fugue No. 6 he used the 'leitmotif of Fantomas from the well-known French serial, Fugue No. 9 ends with the marching song Solovey, solovey ptashechka ('Nightingale, nightingale, you little bird'), Prelude No. 11 contains a hint at the Argentinean tango, while Prelude No. 13 quotes an urban song from Odessa, Fugue No. 15 uses the popular song Antoshka from the children's cartoon film of the same name, at the end of Fugue No. 18 the famous song Chizhik-Pizhik is heard, the beginning of Fugue No. 23 reminds of the beginning of the First Sonata by Beethoven.
The cycle consists of two parts: op. 16 (in sharp keys) and op. 17 (in flat keys). The pieces are ordered in an ascending circle of fifths. The present edition is based on the composer's manuscripts, the only exception being Prelude and Fugue No. 9 published in the composer's lifetime (its autograph is lost). All the tempo and dynamic markings, articulation signs and performing directions added by the editor are enclosed in square brackets. The editor's slurs are set up in dotted lines.
The author's pedal marks and fingerings are found only in the lifetime publication of Prelude and Fugue No. 9. Besides, the composer provided pedal marks for Prelude and Fugue No. 24, the final bar of Prelude No. 21, and the Fugue No. 7 (bars 6-10 counting from the end). In the rest of the pieces the editor added the pedal marks and fingerings already tested in performing practice. All the footnotes, too, are by the editor. Metronome marks are provided only for those pieces whose tempo risks to be interpreted incorrectly. The tempo problem was discussed in detail with the composer's widow L. V.