Search - Shostakovich, Turovsky Duo, Pettinger :: Russian Music for Violin & Cello

This is an odd collection of material. Most of the disc is occupied by 19 of Shostakovich's 24 preludes, originally for piano, arranged for violin and piano by the violinist Dmitri Tziganov. (Tziganov's string quartet, the Beethoven Quartet, premiered most of Shostakovich's string quartets.) The music is still fine minor Shostakovich, but these arrangements hardly seem necessary, and the various Prokofiev transcriptions and Glazounov cello pieces don't lend much substance either. Are you in the mood for a large dish of Russian musical candy? The performances are OK, but nobody seems terribly thrilled about what they are doing here. --Leslie Gerber