senza sordino

Without mute — in piano music, meaning without the damper pedal, allowing notes to ring without sustain. Shostakovich uses this marking in his Op. 87 preludes to enforce a transparent, dry texture that resists expressive blurring.

Resist the instinct to add pedal for colour in passages marked senza sordino. The clarity of the individual voices is the intended sound, especially in the contrapuntal fugues of Op. 87.