Dmitry Shostakovich's pair of cello concertos are both works from the prime of his career, where his music reflected in often startling detail the composer's long struggles with Soviet authority. Consider for example the finale of the Cello Concerto No. 1, Op. 107, which offers up a Georgian folk song that was said to be a favorite of Josef Stalin. The music proceeds to the expected triumphant conclusion but can never quite shake off the little folk song. The two concertos were both written for Mstislav Rostropovich, who ...
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Dmitry Shostakovich's pair of cello concertos are both works from the prime of his career, where his music reflected in often startling detail the composer's long struggles with Soviet authority. Consider for example the finale of the Cello Concerto No. 1, Op. 107, which offers up a Georgian folk song that was said to be a favorite of Josef Stalin. The music proceeds to the expected triumphant conclusion but can never quite shake off the little folk song. The two concertos were both written for Mstislav Rostropovich, who could handle their impressive technical difficulties, and good recordings by Rostropovich and others already exist. Still, this one from cellist Dmitry Kouzov, a Russian player who has been active in the U.S., and the St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra (apparently the St. Petersburg State Academic Symphony Orchestra, with its name shortened to meet American marketing demands) is well worth consideration. Kouzov has a dark, burnished tone that fits well with the gloomy slow...
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