Bloch: Works for violin and piano. Lydia Mordkovitch, Julian Milford (Carlton)
The 1920s was a good decade for violin sonatas, with major contributions from Bartok, Ravel, and Enesco. There are also two by Ernest Bloch, rather less well known but substantial enough to have caught the attention of Heifetz and Stern in the recording studio. There are moments where Bloch shows a pounding affinity of aggression with Bartok, but tempered by the Jewish flavour for which he is famous - no quotations, but rather "the Hebrew spirit . . . the complex, ardent restless spirit which I feel pulsating through the Bible". Mordkovitch, with her gusty thrust, is just the right sort of fiddler for this music, and Julian Milford is a strong support in a collection which also includes Nuit exotique and the famous Nigun.
Michael Dervan
Yuri Bashmet plays Walton and Bruch (RCA)
Max Bruch lived a long life in the wake of his most famous composition. The First Violin Concerto appeared in 1868 when he was 30, and he lived to be 82. The Violin and Viola Concerto recorded here (originally for clarinet and viola) dates from 1911 but is written in the melodiously tasteful style of the composer's youth. Finely-crafted in its way, it's given kid gloves treatment by Victor Tretyakov and the viola player of the moment, Yuri Bashmet, with the LSO under Neeme Jarvi, whose combined lavish care cannot mask its lack of substance. Bashmet luxuriates in the opportunities afforded by Walton's Viola Concerto, the piece that in 1929 signalled a change of direction for the composer of the irrepressible Facade and the light overture, Portsmouth Point. Walton's own brisker speeds and snappier movement contrast with the expressive digging of Bashmet and his partner here, Andre Previn.
Michael Dervan
Shostakovich: Orchestral Works. USSR Ministry of Culture SO/Gennady Rozhdestvensky (Melodiya, 2 CDs for the price of one)
This is a collection of little-known Shostakovich, from his official Op. 1 (completed at 13) to the posthumously discovered 1967 Pushkin setting, Spring, Spring. Gennady Rozhdestvensky is as much musical midwife as conductor, orchestrating (as in the Pushkin), or reconstructing (as in the case of music for the 1935 animated film Tale of the Priest and his Servant Balda) to fill out the picture of Shostakovich's musical activity. Among the surprises here are Shostakovich's own orchestrations of Scarlatti, Strauss, Tea for Two (done from memory in under an hour for the condutor Nikolai Malko), and a Jazz Suite from 1934. In short, no one with a modicum of musical interest, let alone a special affection for Shostakovich, will be disappointed by this fascinating issue.
Michael Dervan
