Search - Shostakovich, Schnittke, Dubinsky :: Dmitri Shostakovich: Violin Sonata, Op. 134 / Alfred Schnittke: Violin Sonata No. 1 (1963) / Sonata (in the olden style)

Good coupling

Redgecko | USA | 10/17/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Before buying this CD, I accidently discovered it at the library while researching a good recording of Shostakovich's only violin sonata which I had read was based on Schoenberg's twelve tone system and was a particularly austere composition. I found it to be as stark and uncompromising as I had hoped and was further pleased to discover the music of Alfred Schnittke. Schnittke's sonata is as dark and eerie as the Shostakovich piece and made an ideal coupling. The third piece on the CD, Schnittke's "Sonata (in the olden style)" made a beautiful close to this recording which clocks in at 70:25.



My pleasure with the other worldly sound of Schnittke's sonata caused me to reasearch his other music and I found two other recordings on Naxos that were favorably reviewed. All of the reviewers said the same thing, that Schnittke's music is as depressing as the Russian winter."