Schnittke: Viola Concerto & Trio Sonata [Import]

Track Listings

1. Moderato

2. Adagio

3. Largo; Allegro Molto

4. Allegro Molto

5. Largo

Tracks:

Fratres
Cantus In Memory Of Benjamin Britten
Fratres
Tabula Rasa

Amazon.com essential recording

This seminal disc now almost seems like the manifesto for a whole new strain of minimalism that has found an enormously receptive audience. It represented a breakthrough for Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, whose music--like that of his European colleagues John Tavener and Henryk Górecki--pursues an austerely beautiful simplicity that suggests spiritual illumination. Fratres, given here in two versions, one for piano and violin and the other for 12 cellos, repeatedly intones a sequence resembling chant to convey a sensibility that seems at once archaic and beyond time. Violinist Gidon Kremer, for whom Pärt wrote the exquisitely contemplative and hypnotic title work, grasps the music's koan-like idiom, allowing an inner fullness to resonate through the most fragile, ethereal wisps of tone against the mysterious clangings of prepared piano. The tolling of the tubular bells in Cantus in memory of Benjamin Britten is an emotionally charged lament, based on a simple minor descending scale, that introduces Pärt's fascination with what he calls "tintinnabulation": the literal and metaphorical sound of ringing bells. This recording is also famous for the acoustically warm presence produced by ECM's Manfred Eicher, which magnificently captures the mystical simplicity of Pärt's sound world. --Thomas May

Customer Reviews:

music so good you'll cry.......2007-04-21

I first heard one of the songs playing in a Starbucks and had to ask them what it was... I couldn't hear it very well, but I knew I needed to hear more. After I got home and listened to the previews on Amazon, I was hooked.

There is so much depth and sweetness to this music. It has literally brought me to tears. If you're looking for an album of chamber music that truely goes beyond the normal lulling sound and into the realm of true artistic expression, this is one to own. It is one of the prizes of my collection.

This is one for everybody.......2006-08-30

I'm not completely dug on classical and contemporanean music, ECM stuff included. Lygeti, Xenakis they make me sense, all along american minimalists like Reich or Cage. Electro-acustic is more ear-friendly for me (Ferrari, Parmegiani) but... All this speech just to say that thsi is one ECM record I own - the 1977's Tabula Rasa. The great Gidon Kramer (check out "Silence" from Nonesuch who has another version of tabula rasa) is here with all his magic, even the world-piano-star K. Jarrett plays piano, and everything makes sense. The music is so cold and complex, ethernal yet listenable for the common of mortals. Give a try, i did and i'm inloved with.

should be accepted by any rational person as strong evidence for God's existence........2006-06-20

arguably, it was THIS music by THIS composer that Manfred Eicher's label, ECM, was meant for. If an album was released on ECM, no doubt it sounds lovely, but when purpose is paired so perfectly with sound, even ECM attains something angelic and beyond. Arvo Part's non-modulating approach to harmony, great care and attention with so few notes, and the reverent spirit that carries through his efforts encompasses a catalogue of works so great and beautiful I'm not sure any 20th century composer can remotely compare.

This ECM disc is possibly the best of all. _Tabula Rasa_, first and foremost, is a masterpiece. A violin concerto of sorts, it flows through static haze and torrid whorls, with ghostly sounds of strings punctuated by the bell- and chime-like intonations on sounds of prepared piano. Divine and without momentum, this piece forever hovers between being and nothing. _Fratres_, performed in two versions here (for violin and piano, and for 12 cellos), features a chorale-like figure recurring over an ethereal drone. Radiant and simple, not a sound is out of place. the _Cantus_ is based on rich chords arranged in a variety of rhythmic patterns, so beautiful one kind of wishes it would last longer.

this is an excellent introduction to one of the best composers of the 20th century. i would really encourage you to hear this.

Fill in your blank slate with some innovative music..........2006-01-03

This CD started it all. In 1984 it introduced the then little known Arvo Pärt to a new western audience. Pärt had long before made his "tinntinnabulation" discovery (around 1976). Before this pivotal epiphany, the majority of Pärt's work fell into the serialist category. His early work shows all of the grinding atonal experimentation of the 1950s. It thus lies in stark contrast to his later work as presented on this CD (he shares this same evolutionary path with the Polish composer Górecki).

"Tabula Rasa" introduced a new music and a new style to the west. This music doesn't follow traditional harmonic or melodic forms. Listening to Pärt differs from listening to Sibelius or Stravinski. In Pärt, environment and setting are everything. The melodies and harmonies function to set a mood rather than to follow a path or a harmonic progression leading to an ultimate resolution. Subsequently, one experiences rather than listens to Pärt's work. The notes merely provide the structure. In this way Pärt's pieces represent frameworks for music (which probably explains, as related in the CD booklet, why the members of one orchestra asked "where is the music" upon seeing the score for "Tabula Rasa"). So Pärt not only presents beautiful and moving music but also helps listeners conceive of it in new ways.

The tracks on this CD provide the perfect showcase for Pärt's work. Beginners should start here. Two versions of the meditative "Fratres" appear, but each utilize such different arrangements that they sound like two separate works. "Cantus" remains one of Pärt's most moving compositions. It sounds like a slowly exploding wall of catharsis. The nearly half hour "Tabula Rasa" features incredible violin work and prepared piano (a la Cage). Overall, the mood of each piece on this CD veers strongly toward the meditative, mystical, and ethereal. As such it serves as a great introduction to the "late" Pärt and as a showcase of incredible musicianship.

Pärt remains more of a phenomenon on CD than in the concert hall. The lush rich sound of this CD, which will have your cochleas swimming, provides some evidence as to why. Not only that, the amount of quietude and silence utilized by Pärt must create difficulties for orchestra hall performance. Pärt's music, intimate and close, probably plays best in seclusion or in small venues. For the maximum experience, put on some headphones and listen to this CD. In this way listeners can experience all the subtle harmonics and nuances that make up the music of Arvo Pärt.

Modern classical music that is beautiful.......2005-10-23

Too many modern classical composers have sacrificed beauty for virtuosity and expermintality. Not so Part. This Baltic composer writes melodic music of outstanding lyricism and profound beauty. He has succesfully managed to write in the classical format while not sounding like a repetition of the great artists of yore. The music is melancolic, but not tragic, pensive but not unpenetratable. I had the great honour to listen to a live perfomance of works by Part by the Hilliard Ensamble at the Royal Festival Hall in London, UK. It was one of the few times I know of that the audience gave a standing ovation, and just did not want to stop. Mr Part was present and he almost started crying.
Part has contributed music to films as diverse as Les Amants du Pont-Neuf and Fahrenheit 9/11.

Schnittke-Concerto Grosso No. 2/Viola Concerto

Average customer rating:

Striking
Two 1980s "polystylism" pieces in truly definitive performance
fantastic performances of two Schnittke works for strings

Schnittke-Concerto Grosso No. 2/Viola Concerto
Alfred Schnittke , Oleg Kagan , Natalia Gutman , Gennadi Rozhdestvensky , and Yuri Bashmet
Manufacturer: Moscow Studio
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Schnittke: Complete String Quartets
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Kremer Plays Schnittke

ASIN: B0002IQMO8
Release Date: 2004-09-07

Tracks:

I. Andantino. Allegro
II. Pesante
III. Allegro
IV. Andantino
I. Largo
II. Allegro Molto
III. Largo

Album Description

The term "authentic performance" is tossed around loosely these days, but here is a historic recording as "original" and "authentic" as has ever been produced. The Concerto Grosso No. 2 was composed by Alfred Schnittke expressly for violinist Oleg Kagan and his wife, cellist Natalia Gutman, who are the soloists here. The Viola Concerto was written by Schnittke for violist Yuri Bashment, who performs it here.

These works are representative examples of Schnittke's "polystylism," scored for conventional orchestra augmented by electric guitar, drum kit, brake drum and other instruments not usually heard in "classical" music.

Customer Reviews:

Striking.......2006-12-10

I am new to Schnittke and I bought this album really out of curiosity. His music is unique and has to be heard as it contains some of the most strikingly beautiful melodies I have ever stumbled across. The quality of audio is also top class...

Two 1980s "polystylism" pieces in truly definitive performance.......2005-08-20

This disc, part of the Moscow Studio Archives series of groundbreaking Soviet performances, collects two works by the late Alfred Schnittke, his Second Concerto Grosso for violin, cello, and orchestra, and the Viola Concerto. They are performed by the dedicatees themselves with the USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky. In the early 1980s, Schnittke was exploring a style he called "polystylism", a Russian answer to postmodernism in which modern elements mingle effortlessly with quotations from the works of centuries past. The works here serve as fit examples of this intriguing method of composition.

The "Concerto Grosso No. 2" for violin, cello, and orchestra was written for the Soviet dynamic duo of violinist Oleg Kagan and his wife the cellist Natalie Gutman, a legendary partnership that ended with Kagan's untimely death. Schnittke's first concerto grosso was a stately and serious piece in which a distinctly modern tone was occasionally invaded by quotation from baroque works. This second concerto grosso, on the other hand, is comical. The violin begans by playing the well-known tune "Silent Night" before the orchestra brashly interrupts with a quotation from Bach's Sixth Brandenburg Concerto. The work then becomes positively zany as electric guitar and a rock drum kit join in the performance of the Handel quotation. Over the first movement, tension is built by pairing baroque writing and more Handel quotations against menacing modern moments. In the second movement, "Silent Night" returns, but it becomes ever more obvious that orchestral forces are out to stop the tune from reaching the listener. In the third movement, the Brandenburg quotation waltzes triumphantly over the scene, but eventually collapses under its own weight, letting "Silent Night" return at the end without impediment. This performance by the work's dedicatees is certainly much better than a recent one on Chandos with Gridenko and Ivashkin, which is unlistenable in comparison.

The "Viola Concerto" was written in 1985 especially for Yuri Bashmet, the most renown violist of the 1980s and 1990s, and one credited with the rebirth of writing for the instrument. The concerto is in a standard three movements, but is noteworthy for using no violins, which lends a poignant tone to the work, which must depend on low strings. The opening movement is sorrowful, with an opening motive based on Bashmet's name. The middle movement is quintessential Schnittke, a blend of colours and styles (waltzes, military marches, elegies, romantic tearjeakers) that are incongruent yet strangely complementary to each other. However, the viola is battered by the many orchestral forces, and in the long, drawn-out last movement he slowly expires as from a mortal wound.The Viola Concerto is a downer, a piece that charts Schnittke's fascination with pain and death as well as anything else he wrote in the last fifteen years of his life. This piece is not as immediately entertaining as the concerto grosso, but in the end is perhaps superior.

All in all this is an exceptional disc and a wonderfully economic purchase. It may also serve as an important document of art under Communism, as the soloists are continually beaten up by great impersonal forces. If you've never heard the work of Alfred Schnittke before, pick this up as a fine introduction, although the Deutsche Grammaphon disc (part of the "Echo 20/21" series) with Gidon Kremer playing in two other concerti grossi is a good buy as well.

fantastic performances of two Schnittke works for strings.......2005-06-12

This release in the valuable new Moscow Studio Archives series includes two superb performances, and the first recordings of both works -- the "Concerto Grosso No. 2" and the "Viola Concerto." Both are performed by their dedicatees, violinist Oleg Kagan and cellist Natalie Gutman, who were married, and violist Yuri Bashmet. Gennady Rozhdestvensky conducts the USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra for both recordings, from 1986 and 1987.

Like the CG1, the CG2 is full of wild, polystylistic elements, including electric guitar and drums playing funk rock and a reference to Bach's Fifth Brandenburg Concerto. The core contrast is the violin and cello playing Silent Night (the sacred), interrupted again and again by a barrage of loud, grotesque and quite profane outbursts from orchestra and percussion, until the quiet, worshipful melody finally reasserts itself in the end. While certainly not Schnittke's finest composition, Kagan and Gutman in this performance best capture the sacred standpoint against which all the other mayhem surges. The more recent recording by Ivashkin and Polyansky (paired with Schnittke's Symphony No. 6 -- see my review) is more superficial, as it fails to establish the ground against which the dizzying array of parodic figures is contrasted.

The "Viola Concerto," written for Bashmet, is clearly one of Schnittke's finest works, lyrical melodrama at its best. Bashmet's performances from the beginning were wildly popular, and established his reputation as a world-class violist. He has recorded it again, as has Kim Kashkashian, and I haven't heard any of the alternative performances, but this one, the first, is powerful and moving.

This disc is absolutely superb, essential for Schnittke devotees and highly recommended to anyone coming to his music for the first time!

Average customer rating:

Good Buy

Music for Viola & Orchestra

Manufacturer: Arte Nova Classics
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Lillian Fuchs: Complete Music for Unaccompanied Viola
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Franz Anton Hoffmeister: Complete Works for Viola
Bartok: Viola Concertos
English Music for Viola

ASIN: B000ILYYF8
Release Date: 2006-10-10

Album Description

Three hundred years of viola repertoire are represented in the enormous time span of this release. One of the earliest composers to use solo viola in an instrumental work was Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767). His Concerto in G is the oldest surviving viola concerto. Johann Neopomuk Hummel (1778-1837) is known today principally for his piano compositions, yet he completed compositions for every type and form of music other than the symphony. Paul Hindemith (1895-1963) composed, on the occasion of the death of the English King George V in 1936, the Trauermusik. The echoes of folk music dominate many of the works by the Israeli composer Oedoen Partos (1907-1977). The composer Alfred Schnittke, born in 1934, reveals the form of his viola composition written in 1989 in its title: Monologue. Rainer Moog was principal violist of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra from 1974 to 1978. He has performed all over the world as a soloist and chamber musician.

Customer Reviews:

Good Buy.......2007-02-14

Great CD, would definitely recommend. Moog has a good sound. Overall, great buy.

Average customer rating:

More than excellent
Powerful performance by Bashmet

Schnittke: Viola Concerto; Trio Sonata

Manufacturer: RCA
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Trios | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

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Schnittke: Symphony 6 / Concerto Grosso 2 / Polyansky

ASIN: B000026HFO
Release Date: 1991-01-01

Tracks:

Moderato
Adagio
Largo; Allegro Molto
Allegro Molto
Largo

Customer Reviews:

More than excellent.......2005-10-18

An absolutely essential CD for all A.Schnittke fans.No words needed,because the music and performance speak for themselves.Highest recommendations!

Powerful performance by Bashmet.......2004-03-17

This is a very powerful rendition of Schnittke's Viola Concerto performed by the great Yuri Bashmet. Although it is played a bit slower than the later live performance on DVD, it is just as intense and emotionally moving. The orchestra is also very clear and strong. The sound quality is much better than Bashmet's earlier recording with Rodzhdestvensky even though the earlier recording brings out certain details more than this one.

Tracks:

Vom Winde beweint: Liturgie fur grosses Orchester und Solo-Viola: Largo molto
Vom Winde beweint: Liturgie fur grosses Orchester und Solo-Viola: Allegro moderato
Vom Winde beweint: Liturgie fur grosses Orchester und Solo-Viola: Larghetto
Vom Winde beweint: Liturgie fur grosses Orchester und Solo-Viola: Andante maestoso
Konzert fur Viola und Orchester: Largo
Konzert fur Viola und Orchester: Allegro molto
Konzert fur Viola und Orchester: Largo

Customer Reviews:

Well played, but not as compelling as Bashmet.......2004-03-17

Kashkashian plays the Schnittke very well from a technical perspective, but it somehow lacks some of the intensity and emotion that Bashmet brings to his performance. Some of the nuances and her style of playing does not sound quite right to me when I hear this work. It almost comes off as obnoxious at times. (No offense to Kashkashian and her incredible technique.) Bashmet on the other hand brings a wider range of sounds and moods that I find rather lacking here.

I also found that the orchestra sounds rather distant and unclear at times. The orchestra that accompanies Bashmet's RCA recording sounds very clear and many of the finer details can be heard better.

Schnittke Viola Concerto: tearing the soul.......2004-01-30

This is in my opinion the best recording of the Viola Concerto.
The soloist and orchestra have a global vision of this work often lacking in other recordings even by Bashmet or Van Keulen. They carry the work's dramaturgy and leave your soul having experienced all human emotions in the end. A must have.

The music of Kanchelli.......2000-09-09

Sometime ago I was reading Fortune magazine when I came across their review of Kancheli's "Mourning of the Wind." After purchasing it, I was rather unsettled by the music for here was a marriage of harsh, discordant notes to sublime, soaring and just, beautiful music. Kancheli's music appeals to me since I am a Christian. Much of Kancheli's music, in fact, disembowels the commonly held notion in Western Christian tradition that God can be understood via the mediums of sheer logic and cold rational. Rather, I tend to abide by the Eastern religions like Judaism that God cannot be understood; that, he God exists in the now but also in the there; that God cannot be thoroughly comprehended. Kancheli's music authenticates this philosophy in his music. The music in itself oscillates between the mediums of sheer terror and rapturous peace. It is the language of mourning, of lamentation, of despair and of hope, albeit a hope reconciled to God. Do not listen to it if like the symphonies of Beethoven, Vaughan-Williams or you hope to walk away with a cathartic feeling. His is like the music of Mahler where a sense of world weariness prevails but Kancheli's works are wrought with much more peace.

Schnittke: Concerto Grosso I/Pärt: Tabula Rasa/Görecki: Concerto

Average customer rating:

Interesting Program, Fine Recording
The Schnittke's a modern classic; the others are OK

Schnittke: Concerto Grosso I/Pärt: Tabula Rasa/Görecki: Concerto

Manufacturer: Chandos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000000B22
Release Date: 1998-01-20

Tracks:

Concerto Grosso No. 1: I. Preludio: Andante
Concerto Grosso No. 1: II. Toccata: Allegro
Concerto Grosso No. 1: III. Recitativo: Lento
Concerto Grosso No. 1: IV. Cadenza
Concerto Grosso No. 1: V. Rondo: Agitato
Concerto Grosso No. 1: VI. Postludio: Andante
TABULA RASA: I. Ludus: Con moto
TABULA RASA: II. Silentium: Senza moto
Concerto For Harpsichord And Strings: I. Allegro molto
Concerto For Harpsichord And Strings: II. Vivace marcatissimo

Customer Reviews:

Interesting Program, Fine Recording.......2003-11-04

This disc of Schnittke, Part, and Gorecki is surprisingly good. I got it mainly to have 'Tabula Rasa' in a congenial setting, and that is just what I received. The most challenging and ambitious work on the disc is Schnittke's 'Concerto Grosso #1'. It summarizes western music in an intriguing and entertaining way. As it finishes, 'Tabula Rasa' almost seems to be another part of that work. Only gradually do you notice that the atmosphere has grown serene. After the Part piece fades into silence, Gorecki puts the cap on the program with his curious little 'Concerto For Harpsichord and Strings'. At 8 min. it is the shortest work (each of the others is nearly 1/2 hr.). Each of its 2 movements, which are essentially fast and faster, is 4 min. In the first, the harpsichord plays a fast, gradually mutating toccata, while the strings play a slower, minor-key, gradually mutating melody line over it. The movement suddenly ends with a major chord. The next movement is in a relentless marcatissimo rhythm, which at first seems like an accompaniment to a silent comedy, then like a Bernard Hermann/Hitchcock score, then like a Shostakovich race to the finish, closed off with a baroque flourish. Turovsky's group does a fine job all around, and the recording is very good. What's not to like?

The Schnittke's a modern classic; the others are OK.......1999-12-08

It's pretty funny that the writer of the liner notes for this disc works so hard to equate the projects of Gorecki, Part, and Schnittke. Schnittke's Concerto Grosso No.1 was a major event in modern music, a breakthrough from a great composer. Schnittke's post-modernism, or polystylism, is not just a gimmick. He puts the music of the past and present to use for conveying a profound, if anguished, vision of life. The Gorecki Harpsichord Concerto is a nothing, practically--short and uninteresting. The Part, well--it's slow, tonal, mystical. Really not very compelling as music, but for some perhaps an aid to meditation. Gorecki and Part are both worlds apart from Schnittke, though. Not that I wouldn't recommend this disc--you get a major work combined with two works that at least have a historical value (as examples of the strange popularity of minimalism).

Average customer rating:

Schnittke: Trio Sonata; Viola Concerto
Alfred Schnittke , Yuri Bashmet , Mstislav Rostropovich , London Symphony Orchestra , and Moscow Soloists
Manufacturer: RCA
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Classical Music | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00000E6LU
Release Date: 1991-09-06

Alfred Schnittke: In Memoriam / Viola Concerto

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Alfred Schnittke: In Memoriam / Viola Concerto
Alfred Schnittke , Lev Markiz , Nobuko Imai , and Malmö Symphony Orchestra
Manufacturer: Bis
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B0000016FJ
Release Date: 1994-03-25

Tracks:

I. Moderato - Lev Markiz
II. Tempo Di Valse - Lev Markiz
III. Andante - Lev Markiz
IV. Lento - Lev Markiz
V. Moderato Pastorale - Lev Markiz
I. Largo - Nobuko Imai
II. Allegro Molto - Nobuko Imai
III. Largo - Nobuko Imai

Kancheli: Vom Wind Beweint; Schnittke: Konzert Für Viola und Orchester

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Kancheli: Vom Wind Beweint; Schnittke: Konzert Für Viola und Orchester

Manufacturer: Ecm Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Olivier Messiaen: Méditations sur le Mystère de la Sainte Trinité
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ASIN: B0000031X3
Release Date: 1994-02-15

Tracks:

Vom Winde beweint: Liturgie fur grosses Orchester und Solo-Viola: Largo molto
Vom Winde beweint: Liturgie fur grosses Orchester und Solo-Viola: Allegro moderato
Vom Winde beweint: Liturgie fur grosses Orchester und Solo-Viola: Larghetto
Vom Winde beweint: Liturgie fur grosses Orchester und Solo-Viola: Andante maestoso
Konzert fur Viola und Orchester: Largo
Konzert fur Viola und Orchester: Allegro molto
Konzert fur Viola und Orchester: Largo

Amazon.com

Both these concertos are characterized by violent contrasts of dynamics, character, texture, and mood. Kancheli calls his work, dedicated to a departed friend, a liturgy. Long passages of motionless single-note drones induce a hypnotic sense of stasis. In four continuous movements, without form or development, it has terrifying orchestral crashes, whispered two-note undulations by the viola, dark, mournful melodies, and lovely folksong- and hymn-like tunes supported by simple tonal harmonies. The ultimate impression is mournful, devotional, and mesmerizingly beautiful. The Schnittke Concerto employs his characteristic "polystylistic," sometimes-chaotic mix of the old and the new. Intense and wild, with big leaps, dissonances, and cadenzas, it opens with a long, eloquent viola solo; the second movement, a "restless chase," sounds like a grotesque waltz; the Finale is a strongly autobiographical, death-haunted lament. The total emotional impact, aided by a terrific, riveting performance, is shattering. --Edith Eisler