With two world premiere recordings, this program highlights the Romantic and spiritual side of contemporary music from Russia and Eastern Europe. Galina Ustvolskaya's early Concerto...

With two world premiere recordings, this program highlights the Romantic and spiritual side of contemporary music from Russia and Eastern Europe. Galina Ustvolskaya's early Concerto expresses a vision of beauty and suffering in a tonal language quite unlike her later works. Giya Kancheli's Sio or "breeze" is notable for its striking use of silence, as well as modal tunes, bass drones and wide dynamic extremes derived from Georgian folk music. Silvestrov's devotional Hymn reflects his approach to music as "a song the world sings about itself".