There's certainly no shortage of albums touting a program of "Russian Works for Violin." Indeed, there is an abundance of literature that fits this description. This Chandos album augments the possibilities by including Russian works for viola as well as the violin; this still includes a great deal of well-known repertoire. However, the repertoire chosen by violinist/violist Lydia Mordkovitch takes things in an entirely different direction. Her selections include less frequently performed works by the great composers ...
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There's certainly no shortage of albums touting a program of "Russian Works for Violin." Indeed, there is an abundance of literature that fits this description. This Chandos album augments the possibilities by including Russian works for viola as well as the violin; this still includes a great deal of well-known repertoire. However, the repertoire chosen by violinist/violist Lydia Mordkovitch takes things in an entirely different direction. Her selections include less frequently performed works by the great composers (Prokofiev's Five Pieces from "Cinderella" and Kabalevsky's Improvisation), as well as pieces by very unfamiliar names (André Volkonsky and Ivan Khandoshkin). The Khandoshkin Violin Sonata in G minor may be the most unexpected work on the disc, offering a very rare glimpse of Russian music from the late-Baroque/early-Classical period. On the violin, Mordkovitch's technique is rather stunning, dashing about the fingerboard of her Stradavari violin with the utmost of ease and precision of...
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