The three works on this album are all common enough; the last two were written for cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, who programmed them frequently in recital. Putting them together is less common, however, and makes a satisfying program of 20th-century music that might broadly be classed as stylistically conservative but that is nevertheless as completely individualistic as any avant-garde work. The major item on the program is the Cello Sonata in D minor, Op. 40, composed by Dmitry Shostakovich in 1934 just before his first ...
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The three works on this album are all common enough; the last two were written for cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, who programmed them frequently in recital. Putting them together is less common, however, and makes a satisfying program of 20th-century music that might broadly be classed as stylistically conservative but that is nevertheless as completely individualistic as any avant-garde work. The major item on the program is the Cello Sonata in D minor, Op. 40, composed by Dmitry Shostakovich in 1934 just before his first denunciation by Stalin. In four sizable movements, it is both a product of the composer's acridly humorous early period and one of the first works to show his absolutely distinctive personality, with the gravity of its slow movement, its motor rhythms concealing a layer of anger, and its profoundly Russian quality. Non-Russians play it at their peril, but British cellist Jamie Walton has unflagging energy and plenty of power. His tone is really one of the most impressive among active...
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