Alfred Schnittke - Concerto Grosso No. 6; Suite in the Old Style; etc. (Ulf Wallin; Ralf Gothóni)

Information

Composer: Alfred Schnittke

• (01) Quasi una sonata
• (02) Moz-Art à la Haydn
• (03-07) Suite in the Old Style
• (08-10) Concerto Grosso No. 6

Ulf Wallin, violin
Ralf Gothóni, piano & conductor
Tapiola Sinfonietta

Date: 2006
Label: BIS
http://bis.se/composer/schnittke-alfred/schnittke-violin-works

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Review

Important points along a musical career path but not Schnittke at his best

This new contribution to BIS’s large-scale Schnittke project underlines the differences between early and late, and even someone inclined to dismiss the composer’s trademark angst as too tied to the Cold War to be very relevant today can’t deny the contrast between the fragmented, expressionistic sound effects of Quasi una sonata and the more connected, thematic, though still pervasively pessimistic Concerto grosso No 6.

The performances are both passionate and expert and the recorded sound is suitably stark, the piano a little too ‘tubby’ in the Concerto grosso. But I don’t think the music shows Schnittke at his best. Quasi una sonata is a crude affair, and a pale shadow of the Berg Concerto that it half-remembers now and again. Moz-Art à la Haydn has some more connected, fanciful music in it but its earnest humour hasn’t worn well, while the Suite in the Old Style might not have survived at all had the composer’s name not been otherwise celebrated. At least the Concerto grosso No 6, misleadingly dubbed ‘neoclassical’ in the booklet, has echoes of those orchestral and chamber works by which Schnittke best deserves to be remembered and admired. This new performance merits being placed alongside such distinguished predecessors as those on Chandos (7/95) and Nimbus (5/99). Yet it’s still the case that most of the other CDs in the BIS series are more rewarding than this one.

-- Arnold Whittall, Gramophone

More reviews:
BBC Music Magazine  PERFORMANCE: **** / SOUND: ****
MusicWeb International  RECORDING OF THE MONTH
https://www.allmusic.com/album/alfred-schnittke-quasi-una-sonata-suite-in-the-old-style-moz-art-%C3%A0-la-haydn-concerto-grosso-no-6-mw0001415462

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Alfred Schnittke (November 24, 1934 – August 3, 1998) was a Soviet and German composer. Schnittke completed his graduate work in composition at the Moscow Conservatory in 1961 and taught there from 1962 to 1972 Schnittke's early music shows the strong influence of Dmitri Shostakovich. Later, he created a new style which has been called "polystylism", where he juxtaposed and combined music of various styles past and present. As his health deteriorated, Schnittke's music started to abandon much of the extroversion of his polystylism and retreated into a more withdrawn, bleak style.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Schnittke

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Ulf Wallin is a Swedish violinist who was born in Växjö and grew up in Linköping. He studied at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna. He has particular interest in contemporary music and close collaboration with composers such as Anders Eliasson, Alfred Schnittke and Rodion Shchedrin. Wallin has made numerous recordings for radio and television, and recorded over 40 CD recordings for labels BIS, cpo, EMI and BMG. He is professor of violin at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" Berlin since 1996, and a member of the Royal Music Academy since 2015.
https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulf_Wallin

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