Classical Music
Valentin Silvestrov: 7th symphony (Naxos)
Silvestrov writes almost as if Mahler is speaking to us from beyond the grave
A worthy heiress to Princess Ida
Where has originality and character gone in the art of Violin playing?
Rachmaninov: Preludes, Etudes (DG)
Babayan’s Rachmninov is remarkable is its absence of obvious virtuosity
Mieczyslaw Weinberg: Cello Concerto (CPO)
If Norman Lebrecht goes a month without hearing Weinberg he feels the loss
Britten, Hindemith, RVW, Martinu (Claves)
The 1934 suite by Ralph Vaughan Williams demands a sympathy for the rolling contours of the English countryside
Theodorakis and Christou: Intersection 1955
The Ballad of Mauthausen ranks among the most beautiful music ever written about the Nazi Holocaust
Nikolai Kapustin, Alfred Schnittke: Cello Concertos (Capriccio)
I can imagine Kapustin in the background, smiling at his piano, during this breath-taking revival
Christopher Rouse: 5th symphony (Naxos)
What Rouse wrote was an intimate series of love letters to the orchestra
Two lost composers
Feinberg / Winterberg: The lost works (Melism)
Ravel, Dutilleux, Debussy: Quart de nuit (Deux-Elles)
Norman Lebrecht is left wanting more Dutilleux