Schnittke: Chamber Music
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Music CD Cover
Performer: Alexander IvashkinComposer: Alfred Schnittke
Performer: Irina Schnittke
Performer: Theodore Kuchar
Performer: Dimity Hall
Performer: Mark Lubotsky
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2001-02-20
Music Label: Naxos
Soundtracks:
- Fuga - Mark Lubotsky
- Klingende Buchstaben - Alexander Ivashkin
- Pno Qnt: Moderato
- Pno Qnt: In Tempo Di Valse
- Pno Qnt: Andante
- Pno Qnt: Lento
- Pno Qnt: Moderato Pastorale
- Stille Musik - Mark Lubotsky/Alexander Ivashkin
- Str Trio: Moderato - Mark Lubotsky/Theodore Kuchar/Alexander Ivashkin
- Str Trio: Adagio - Mark Lubotsky/Theodore Kuchar/Alexander Ivashkin
Free Music Notes for Schnittke: Chamber Music
Free Music Review: Follow Up Review
Hit: 5 Stars
Yesterday I reviewed the Borodin String Quartet's performance of Schnittke's Piano Quintet, with Ludmilla Berlinsky at the keyboard. That CD, I'm sad to say, is available now only at inflated used prices. This performance of the Quintet, by the string ensemble of the Australian Festival of Chamber Music with Irina Schnittke on piano, is remarkably different from the Borodin version - a good deal harsher and fiercer, more angry than mournful - but very skillfully played. At the Naxos bargain price, I recommend it unconditionally. Hey, I'm pleased to have both CDs.
The Piano Quintet was composed in the wake of Schnittke's mother's death; it is dedicated to her memory. This AFCM performance has, to my ears, a powerful concept of the work. The piano is on a path of beauty and resignation, while the strings snarl and mock any easy consolation, reminding us of the harsh joys of life. While the Borodin performance reminded me considerably of Shostakovich, this AFMC version brings the influence of Mahler on Schnittke more to the fore.
Also performed on this CD are works for strings ranging from Schnittke's adolescent (1953) Fuga for solo violin to his Klingende Buchstaben for solo cello (1988). The last and longest work on the disk is a String Trio written in 1985 on commission to be performed in Vienna in commemoration of the anniversary of Alban Berg, whose music also influenced Schnittke. It's a more somber and convulsive work than the Piano Quintet, and one that ends with a haunting diminuendo into silence.
Though recorded in Australia, this performance features several Russian musicians who knew and worked with Schnittke himself before his death in 1998. In particular, the violinist Mark Lubotsky had the privilage of premiering Schnittke's violin concertos. Alexander Ivashkin was the principal cellist of the Bolshoi Theater Orchestra during Schnittke's active years in Russia. Lubotsky and Ivashkin are the performers of the two solo fantasies recorded here, both of which inevitably remind me of Bach's solo string sonatas. The cello work, Klingende Buchstaben, asks the cellist to draw sounds from his instrument unlike any you've heard before; it's a subtle, somber study of sound and silence interspliced.
On the whole, I prefer Schnittke's chamber music to his orchestral works, especially in recorded performances. These Russian fiddlers make him a more tormented soul than I have imagined him to be. Perhaps they're right, though his photos show a man with a gentle, forgiving smile.
Schnittke: Chamber Music Poster
Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998) is not really known for writing simple music, or at least music whose many arguments are rather easy to follow. Yet what we have here are brilliantly conceived (and brilliantly executed) chamber works of astonishing simplicity, works that nonetheless convey Schnittke's characteristic polytonal style with absolute clarity. Best here is the meditative Piano Quintet (of 1976), in which the piano tends to unify the clashing lines of the argumentative strings. The same holds true for the String Trio (of 1985). This work is more laden with satirical moments, as it starts out flirting with the Baroque then becomes more twisted and nightmarish as it unravels. Schnittke's music isn't for everybody, but this disc might stand as an excellent primer for newcomers. Highly recommended. --Paul CookClassical Music CDs
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