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Yuri Bashmet (Viola) : Brahms;Shostakovich
Johannes Brahms, Dmitry Shostakovich, Moscow Soloists
Yuri Bashmet (Viola) : Brahms;Shostakovich
Genres: Special Interest, Classical
 
  •  Track Listings (5) - Disc #1

Violists constantly complain about the scarcity of romantic works for their instrument. Yuri Bashmet added two by transforming Brahms's Clarinet Quintet and Shostakovich's 13th String Quartet into vehicles for solo viola a...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Johannes Brahms, Dmitry Shostakovich, Moscow Soloists
Title: Yuri Bashmet (Viola) : Brahms;Shostakovich
Members Wishing: 2
Total Copies: 0
Label: Sony
Release Date: 10/27/1998
Genres: Special Interest, Classical
Style: Chamber Music
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 074646055021

Synopsis

Amazon.com
Violists constantly complain about the scarcity of romantic works for their instrument. Yuri Bashmet added two by transforming Brahms's Clarinet Quintet and Shostakovich's 13th String Quartet into vehicles for solo viola and chamber orchestra. His justification is that Brahms did indeed suggest that a viola could replace the clarinet, and that Shostakovich's quartet features the viola and is dedicated to a violist. The Brahms transcription (Bashmet's own) is not successful: the texture is muddy; the work's intimacy, atmosphere, and character are lost. Moreover, the balance is poor and the playing shows little respect for Brahms's austere, mature, mellow style. The Shostakovich, in Tchaikovsky's arrangement, is much better. This music is in Bashmet's blood; taking over the solo passages not only of the viola part, but of all the others, he gives the death-haunted bleakness and wild agony of the piece an aching, numbing, emotional immediacy. The ending--a surging, high-pitched unison tone that abruptly breaks off at its peak--has been described as "a blinding white light and then--nothing," but the effect is undercut by the arrangement, which adds a low note at the last moment. --Edith Eisler

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CD Reviews

Viola Playing at its Best
11/25/1998
(5 out of 5 stars)

"Yuri Bashmet has done a masterful job in transcirbing the Quintet for Clarinet and Strings in B minor, Opus 115 for Viola. The first movement is rich and warm, beautifully orchestrated. Thre second movement is heart-wrenching and I think, even more suited to the Viola than the Clarinet. Brahms would be proud to hear playing like this."
Exceptional performance, great transcription
mgoretsky@syska.com | New York, NY | 01/11/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)

"This performance of both Brahms and Shostakovich is warm, genuine and subtle. It is due to these qualities that some professional reviewers cannot comprehend this great recording. Fortunately for some of us, we never read them."
Bashmet's live performance
Sergey Pak | Chicago | 03/20/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)

"Please disregard the editorial column on this CD. Just listen to the music. Bashmet's transcription of the Brahm's quintet is great. The performance is absolutely stunning. Though I have to agree that the Shostakovich's piece on the CD can't be compared to the live performance I was so lucky to watch and listen day before. But what else could be a good replacement for live music? In the overall the disk is challenging for a first time listener but every single note will pay off if get into the music"