There are other fine recordings available for both of these Shostakovich works. The Seven Romances on Poems by Alexander Blok for soprano, violin, cello, and piano, Op. 127, were recorded several times by their dedicatee, soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, and the stirring Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 57, has been one of the composer's most popular chamber works ever since its premiere. Nevertheless, this release by Trio Wanderer and mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Semenchuk merits strong consideration as a standard recording. Semenchuk ...
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There are other fine recordings available for both of these Shostakovich works. The Seven Romances on Poems by Alexander Blok for soprano, violin, cello, and piano, Op. 127, were recorded several times by their dedicatee, soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, and the stirring Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 57, has been one of the composer's most popular chamber works ever since its premiere. Nevertheless, this release by Trio Wanderer and mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Semenchuk merits strong consideration as a standard recording. Semenchuk does well not to try to improve on Vishnevskaya's classic recording; both are big, operatic sopranos who scaled down to the intimate dimensions of these chamber songs, and Semenchuk's readings of these gloomy but visionary texts are riveting. Equally good is Trio Wanderer's reading of the Piano Quintet, aided by violinist Catherine Montier and violist Christophe Gaugué. The work is one of the most fascinating in Shostakovich's pre-World War II period, balancing multiple elements...
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