Schnittke - Kopytman: Violakonzerte (1994)/ viola concertos

"Schnittkes 1985 Viola Concerto charts a life-story that includes laughter and tears. Inevitably tragic, it ends with a funeral march where the interplay of soloist and orchestra seems a literal presentation of the death of body and spirit. Poignant echoes from the second movement a wildly energetic dance that sidesteps into dreamy waltztime heighten the sense of dissolution. Most abstract of the three movements is the first, its dark chromaticisms shared by the terse Monologue of 1989. Zimmermann finds poetry in the anguish, ameliorating the bleakness of this fragile sonata movement with warm, vigorous playing. High temperature in Kopytmans Cantus V is inherent in the score: colourful and dynamic, with subtle, whispering textures, like Bartókian night music on fast-forward. The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra is impeccable under Shallons direction in a recording that maintains truth to nature." (Nicholas Williams, BBC Music Magazine; 5 uit 5 sterren voor uitvoering én registratie)