Heitor Villa-Lobos

Mstislav Rostropovich was born on 27th March 1927 and died from cancer a month after his 80th birthday. Whereas Pablo Casals was the leading cellist of the first half of the 20th century, Rostropovich took on this mantle for the second half. He was more than just a cellist however as he conducted and was an excellent piano accompanist to his wife, the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya. He also became a leading citizen of the world by his support for the Soviet dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn, then stripped of his Russian citizenship by the Communists after being granted a visa to work abroad in 1974 and flying back to assist Boris Yeltsin when the new Parliament was besieged by Communist renegades in 1991.

This collection brings together all the recordings with cello that he made for EMI Classics including both versions of the Brahms Double Concerto made with Oistrakh and Szell in 1969 and Perlman and Haitink in 1979; the Dvorák Concerto with Boult in 1957 and Giulini in 1977 and Saint-Saëns Concerto No. 1 with Sargent in 1956 and Giulini in 1977; the Bach Cello Suites both on CD and DVD and the 13CDs of recordings which Rostropovich brought to EMI entitled “The Russian Years”.

Such was his enthusiasm and remarkable playing he inspired numerous composers to write for him. He always expressed his view that the greatest were Sergei Prokofiev, who died on the same day as Stalin, 5th March 1953, Dmitri Shostakovich, died on 9th August 1975 and Benjamin Britten, died on 4th December 1976. Both Rostropovich and Shostakovich had lost their fathers whilst teenagers so when Shostakovich became his teacher he was more of a surrogate father and you may imagine his anguish at not being able to return to Moscow for the funeral (having been stripped of his citizenship); it was thus at Britten’s funeral service that he could give vent to his sadness at the loss of both great friends.

Slava, as he was universally known by his countless friends and colleagues, has left the world a matchless recorded legacy of his genius.

We should all listen and be grateful.

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.

Villa-Lobos was one of the most prolific of all 20th-century composers. The works on this seventh volume of the complete piano works show the multilayered nature of Villa-Lobos’s idiom, which is as exuberant as the Brazilian landscape that inspired him so often.

Amazonas, subtitled ‘Brazilian Indian ballet’, is based on indigenous themes that were embedded in the texture, and innovatively varied and transformed through sophisticated harmonic and rhythmic experiments. Even today Amazonas remains startling for its adventurous musical language.

Several of the shorter pieces on this disc exist only in manuscript, and receive here their world premičre recording.