Though you could hardly call it "humorous," this selection of some of Alfred Schnittke's most popular works makes for a great entry point in getting to know this composer and his music. In his typically dour works, Schnittke's style consistently borders on the fringes of morbidity. The music presented here, though -- some of which has a strong neo-Classical flavor -- is of a much less serious oeuvre than is typical. It is also easily accessible to those who don't consider themselves to be Schnittke devotees.Quasi una Sonata ...
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Though you could hardly call it "humorous," this selection of some of Alfred Schnittke's most popular works makes for a great entry point in getting to know this composer and his music. In his typically dour works, Schnittke's style consistently borders on the fringes of morbidity. The music presented here, though -- some of which has a strong neo-Classical flavor -- is of a much less serious oeuvre than is typical. It is also easily accessible to those who don't consider themselves to be Schnittke devotees.Quasi una Sonata, which Schnittke completed in 1968 as a work for piano and violin, comes into full blossom here as the composer's own arrangement for chamber orchestra (1987). Wallin, Gothóni, and the Tapiola Sinfonietta give a committed performance: highly dramatic, urgent, and clear. There is a cosmopolitan blending of styles in Schnittke's 1977 work Moz-Art à la Haydn; it is a work that has in many ways foreshadowed the great interconnectedness of our society today. Tero Latvala and Meri Englund...
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