A previously unknown work of Dmitri Shostakovich has been found in the personal archives of the Russian violist Vadim Borisovsky (1900-1972), stored in the Russian State Archives in Moscow. The piece is an Impromptu, and the authenticity of the manuscript has been confirmed, the Archives say.
The autograph consists of two separate sheets. An inscription on one of the sheets says: « Dear Alexander Mikhailovich in memory of our acquaintance. D. Shostakovich 2 / V 1931, Leningrad. »
In the opinion of musicologists, the addressee was viola player Alexander Mikhailovich Ryvkin, one of the founders of the Glazunov Quartet.
