Ballet For A Lonely Violinist

“Vadim Gluzman and Angela Yoffe, an impressive well matched husband-and-wife team, give a powerful account of the 1968 Shostakovich Sonata. This performance rises to its demands - extremes of tone and virtuoso intensity - the central Allegretto projecting an atmosphere of glittering ferocity. The Jazz Suite No 1 of 1934... takes us back to a very different Shostakovich: the wit may be sardonic but the mood remains light-hearted and upbeat. The Sonata, Auerbach's response to the events of 9/11, is on a far grander scale, with big, even melodramatic gestures. It's a well made piece, imaginatively cast for the two instruments and with some beautiful, inspiring moments...” --Gramophone Magazine, September 2006

“…the centre of gravity of this recital is a magnificently eloquent and understanding performance of Shostakovich's Violin Sonata, which as the years pass comes to seem one of the greatest of his late works. …Gluzman and Yoffe infuse the music with an expressive glow that transcends its innate austerity.” --BBC Music Magazine, March 2007 *****

Shostakovich: Piano Concertos

“his lightning switches of tempo and mood in the fast movement outdo most competitors for bizarrerie...Melnikov includes a searing, thrilling account of Shostakovich's late Violin Sonata, Op. 134, in which he partners the very impressive Isabelle Faust...Unhesitatingly recommended as one of the best versions of all three works currently available.” --BBC Music Magazine, April 2012 *****
 

Gramophone Awards 2012 Finalist - Concerto
BBC Music Magazine Orchestral Choice - April 2012

 

 

 

“The hide-and-seek games between piano and orchestra in the first movement are delectable enough. But then the slow movement...to call this breathtaking would be an understatement. Starting at a whisper, Melnikov fines his sound down to the threshold of audibility and extends phrase-endings until the world seems to stand still...For me, this is Shostakovich-playing on a level of inspiration I have only heard in my dreams.” --Gramophone Magazine, May 2012

 

 

Shostakovich’s music is often 'two-faced', sometimes sublimated in ecstasy and joie de vivre, sometimes plunged into emptiness and suffused with a death wish. Accompanied by the Mahler Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Teodor Currentzis, Alexander Melnikov captures this feeling admirably in the Concertos Opp.35 and 102, and perhaps still more poignantly – “with disarming sincerity and fearless directness”, to quote his booklet note – alongside Isabelle Faust in the Sonata Op.134.

“The coupling of the Second Piano Concerto and the Violin Sonata on this CD is by no means accidental. In terms of musical language the two pieces stand so far apart that it is difficult to comprehend how the same composer could have written them both. It is true that from its inception the sonata bore the stamp of ‘inaccessibility’, supposedly impossible for a listener to digest, and has never quite achieved the popularity of its counterparts for cello and viola. This music is as far from ‘easy listening’ as it gets. On the other hand the second movement of the Second Concerto is routinely included in ‘light classics’ compilations, broadcast by radio stations and played through headphones to airline passengers or CAT patients to ‘make them feel good’.” Alexander Melnikov

Echoes of Time

“[the Shostakovich] receives a deeply considered interpretation, its emotional narrative vividly etched by both soloist and conductor...Batiashvili begins the Cadenza in deep contemplation but quickly ratchets up the tension driving us irresistably towards the 'Burlesque', dispatched here with venom and rhythmic drive.” --BBC Music Magazine, April 2011 *****

Gramophone Magazine Disc of the Month - March 2011

 

“few if any [recordings of the Shostakovich] are finer than this one...Batiashvili's reflective, almost weightless approach in the opening Nocturne...is rendered more distinctive by the resonant acoustic of the empty Herkulessaal...the passacaglia is exceptionally poised and the cadenza more sheerly musical than usual. The finale whizzes to its end without undue triumphalism.” --Gramophone Magazine, March 2011

“I will risk accusations of heresy by saying that this new recording of the Shostakovich Concerto make a btter case for the work than its premiere recording...Batiashvili's playing strikes me as more personal than Oistrakh's, and she seems more willing to dive into its bleakness, its black humour and its frayed nerves. She plays like a protagonist. At the same time, Batiashvili conveys these emotional states without sacrificing an iota of her gorgeous tone.” International Record Review, April 2011