Dmitri Shostakovich

This is the final volume of this highly regarded cycle of Shostakovich’s symphonies. Iano Tamar and Taras Shtonda are the fine soloists and Roman Kofman once again conducts the Beethoven Orchester Bonn. This symphonic cycle has earned many awards including recommendations in The Penquin Guide’s “Key Recording” series. Recorded in MDG’s superb sound this is a truly audiosonic event.

Rising star of the viola, the exciting French player Antoine Tamestit, makes his second disc for Ambroisie/Naïve, with a pairing of two of the most significant works written for the instrument during the second half of the 20th century, Schnittke’s Viola Concerto and Shostakovich’s Viola Sonata. It’s the second of three recordings Tamestit is making, with support from the Borletti Buitoni Trust, in which he aims to explore a wide range of work written and arranged for solo viola. His first recording last year coupled Bach and Ligeti (Chaconne - AM111) and attracted high praise.

Alfred Schnittke wrote his Viola Concerto in 1985, the year that Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in the Soviet Union, ended the Cold War and allowed Russians once again to enjoy the excitement of travel. The work was commissioned by the Russian violist Yuri Bashmet who gave the first performance a year later at the Royal Concertgebouw, Amsterdam. Ten years earlier in 1975 Dmitri Shostakovich knew he was dying when he wrote the Viola Sonata Op147 and that it would be his last work. Sadly Shostakovich did not live to hear his swansong in concert, but the dedicatee Fyodor Druzhinin performed it informally at Shostakovich’s house on what would have been the composer’s 69th birthday, 26 September.

Antoine Tamestit himself became enamoured of the rich, low tone of the viola as a ten-year-old. He found that the open C string, the same C with which both Schnittke’s Concerto and Shostakovich’s Sonata end, resonated warmly through his entire body and that with the end-button resting against his throat, he could feel the vibrations of the instrument as an extra voice.

Born in Paris to a schoolteacher mother and a composer father, Antoine Tamestit studied the viola with Jean Sulem at the Paris Conservatoire, in the United States with Jesse Levine and the Tokyo Quartet, and in Germany with the great Tabea Zimmermann. First prizes in the major viola competitions in Paris, New York and Munich (where he astounded the judges by playing the Schnittke Concerto from memory) demonstrated his brilliance, since when he’s been a soloist with many leading orchestras, among them the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the BBC Philharmonic, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, and Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. He won the 2008 Credit Suisse award which brought him a Lucerne Festival concert with the Vienna Philharmonic and Riccardo Muti. Passionate about chamber music, he performs regularly with artists like Gidon Kremer, Emmanuel Pahud, Mischa Maisky and in trio with Frank Peter Zimmermann and Christian Poltéra. He is well-known in Britain from his period (2004-05) as a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist, and he appears at the Wigmore Hall this autumn in two concerts (26 & 27 October) with Nicholas Angelich, Renaud and Gautier Capuçon.

October sees Vladimir Ashkenazy interpreting Shostakovich from a recording made at Suntory Hall during a tour of Japan.Ashkenazy has had a longstanding relationship with the Philharmonia Orchestra of which he was appointed Conductor Laureate in 2000. In addition to his performances with the orchestra in London and around the UK each season, he has toured with them worldwide and developed landmark projects such as 'Prokofiev and Shostakovich Under Stalin' in 2003 and 'Rachmaninoff Revisited' in 2002 at the Lincoln Center, New York.

Kathryn Stott writes: ‘This year is very much a celebration for me – a fiftieth birthday and thirty years on the concert platform! When Ralph Couzens and I started to discuss plans for a solo CD, I was very keen to record repertoire which would reflect my wide taste in music from around the world. The subject ‘dance’ was in my head from the start and so here we have a musical journey encompassing South American countries, Romanian and Hungarian folk music, and dances from the Polish Mazurka to the Russian Polka, via Finland, France and Spain, to name but a few! Piazzolla sits alongside Satie as do Sibelius and Albéniz… dances both joyous and sad. I’m particularly excited to include the world premiere of Old Style, a birthday present from one of my favourite British composers, Graham Fitkin.’

South American music is a great love of Stott’s and so the inclusion of Villa-Lobos, Piazzolla, Ginastera, Guarnieri and Lecuona was essential: ‘Valsa da dor I find both touching and passionate, whereas Ginastera’s Danza has a distant sadness, which is almost untouchable.’ Stott has previously worked with the members of Piazzolla’s original Quintet, and has remained an avid fan ever since. Here she performs Milonga del ángel, a work that recreates the haunting sound of the bandoneón.

This eclectic repertoire of dances is completed by the premiere of Old Style by Graham Fitkin, written for Kathryn Stott in celebration of her landmark anniversaries this year: ‘For the past ten years, Graham has been writing the most fantastic music for me – always challenging but with such a fantastic energy. This piece is no exception and I feel its inclusion is an important part of this international and rather special journey.’

Kathryn Stott’s birthday celebrations culminate in a concert at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall on 4 December, at which a total of twenty-five colleagues will perform with her, including Yo-Yo Ma, Natalie Clein, the Hermitage String Trio and Martin Roscoe.

All the works on this disc written for trumpet and organ are highly demanding in terms of virtuosity and technical skill. They are superbly performed by trumpeter Reinhold Friedrich and young organist Iveta Apkalna who present a varied program of music ranging from the well known Messiaen, Takemitsu and Shostakovich to the lesser known Zbinden and Eschaich. As varied as they are, they all share the ability to coax the two instruments into producing an incredible variety of sounds.

The ‘Discover’ series opens the door to key areas of classical music. Through a combination of illustrative music tracks and a richly filled booklet, the exploration is both revealing and enjoyable.

As the twentieth century approached, a new art form was developed, one that would go on to dominate the next hundred years.

Though cinema began in silence, it quickly acquired sound and attracted musicians and composers. The new medium demanded a new approach, both aesthetically and technologically, but these problems were overcome remarkably quickly, allowing film composition to develop into a sophisticated branch of music-drama.

This booklet-and-CD set outlines the history of film music, introduces some of the major characters, and shows how their music works in the context of film.

Author: John Riley

2 CDs with 160-page booklet:

- 25,000-word essay

- Timeline of events in film music, history, art & literature

Shostakovich’s Tenth Symphony was first performed shortly after Stalin’s death in 1953. This was the first of his works to be completed without the restraints of strict communist artistic control hanging over him. A dark and tragic tone is projected throughout the symphony and the distinct contrasts create a dramatic and intense work.

Recorded live at the Royal Albert Hall during the 1986 BBC Proms under conductor Bernard Haitink, the London Philharmonic Orchestra gives a compelling account of this monumental symphony. He instinctively knows with this symphony when to increase tension and when to relax - and whilst relaxing he never loses your attention, there is always direction and an onward undercurrent. The tiny rays of sunshine in the otherwise ominous slow opening are perfectly judged examples of this.