The spirit of Gustav Mahler looms over the pages of Shostakovich’s turbulent, sprawling and enigmatic Symphony No. 4, a work so uncompromising that for many years he suppressed its performance, fearing public censure. Mixing bombast with banality, savagery with sarcasm, this baffling yet profound work is also one of his most startlingly original. It’s paired with his ever popular Symphony No. 10, a brooding and lyrical masterpiece which is said to contain a musical portrait of Joseph Stalin in the impetuous second movement and in whose third and fourth movements Shostakovich artfully weaves a musical motif based on his own name which emerges resplendent in the spirited finale. This triumphant release is the latest in a series of recordings for Pentatone by the Russian National Orchestra. Their Shostakovich cycle was widely acclaimed as “the most exciting cycle of the Shostakovich symphonies to be put down…and easily the best recorded.” (SACD.net). The Symphony No. 7, conducted by Paavo Järvi, won the Diapason d’Or de l’annee 2015 and was nominated for a 2016 Grammy Award for Best Suurpund Sound recording.

Classical Music

First Hand Records presents violinist Sasha Rozhdestvensky in the world premiere commercial recording of Shostakovich's unfinished Violin Sonata. This recording includes an extra 28 bars of a development section found in Shostakovich's original manuscript that does not appear in the published score, and is completed by an eleven-bar coda written by conductor Gennady Rozhdestvensky. The work is coupled with the Violin Sonata Op. 43. The program also contains world premiere commercial recordings of Shostakovich's Andantino from the String Quartet No.4, his piano duet arrangement of Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms and his chamber transcription of Gaetano Braga's La Serenata.

Classical Music

Shostakovich was no child prodigy - he began piano lessons at nine - but success as a composer came early when his First Symphony, written as a graduation piece, was acclaimed in Leningrad at the premiere in May 1926. That said, there is some fine chamber music in Shostakovich's student output. Much of the Two Pieces for String Octet Op. 11 actually predates the First Symphony Op. 10, remarkably assured for an eighteen year-old. The Two Pieces for String Quartet on the other hand did not surface at all until 1984! Dedicated to the J. Vuillaume Quartet they give us the suggestion of a Shostakovich quartet sound circa 1931 - seven years before the real thing. The original stimulus to compose a piano quintet came from musicians of the Beethoven Quartet who had asked him for something they could all play together. But Shostakovich must have relished the technical challenge of a medium which few twentieth century composers had been prepared to tackle because of it's peculiar problems of balance and texture. The composer himself gave the first performance with the Beethoven Quartet in Moscow on 23 November 1940. And, utterly non-ideological as it was and is, the music won him a Stalin Prize. Shostakovich was one of the most important and prolific writer of string quartets in the 20th century. His String Quartet No. 8 comes from an important period in his personal as well as his artistic life. Musically it comes from the same period as his widely acknowledged masterpiece, the Tenth Symphony. Dissident writers have claimed it represents the composer himself - a lost voice in a cruel world.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Duo TschoppBovino, on their debut GENUIN CD, show us their versatility as Mirjan Tschopp successfully performs onboth violin and viola. Dmitri Shostakovich occupies a unique place in 20th century music. The duo has chosen his Sonata for Violin and Piano, Op. 134 and Sonata for Viola and Piano Op. 147. These two pieces were composed toward the end of the composer’s life, during his most mature compositional period.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Described by The Strad as presenting “a masterclass in unanimity of musical purpose, in which severity could melt seamlessly into charm, and drama into geniality″, the Carducci Quartet is recognized as one of today’s most successful string quartets. Performing over 90 concerts worldwide each year, the quartet’s upcoming performances of the complete Shostakovich quartets on various concert stages worldwide coincides with this CD, their second Signum release, featuring the composer’s 4th, 8th and 11th quartets.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Dmitry Kouzov is one of his generation's leading cello virtuosos. From his earliest years Kouzov was surrounded by musicians with direct personal connections to Shostakovich, making the master's music an inseparable part of his musical being. That immersion, along with the partnership with the St. Petersburg State Symphony and Lande, make for an insightful and moving reading.

The Shostakovich cycle with Vladimir Fedoseyev and the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow radio will be continued with two further episodes: the energetic fourth symphony and the enigmatic 15th symphony with the suite from the film music to "Five Day Five Nights" Op. 111. The Orchestra has premiered several works by Shostakovich, and Fedosseyev's career is closely linked to the works of the great Russian composer - the best conditions for an ideal interpretation. For nearly 40 years, Vladimir Fedoseyev has led the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow Radio in the tradition of his predecessors. His interpretations are famous for their depth, artistic passion and great sensitivity for the national character of Russian music. Maestro Fedoseyev has created in the Orchestra a specific melodious emotional style that distinguishes it from others and has helped it to earn worldwide acclaim. Fedoseyev’s paternal attitude to the musicians of the Orchestra, his aspiration to make each of them a high level musician, has allowed many of the Orchestra’s musicians to perform as soloist, both with the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow Radio and other Russian and foreign symphony orchestras.