Search - Alfred Schnittke, Dmitry Shostakovich, Constantine Orbelian :: Dedicated to the Victims of War and Terror

Power anti-war statements

F. Behrens | Keene, NH USA | 07/19/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"War can bring out the worst in all of us, but it seems to bring out the best in artists. In a powerful CD with a cover bearing the words "Dedicated to Victims of War and Terror," Delos label offers us dramatic readings of two works that depict (as the cover notes put it) "the horror and terror of the 1930s and 40s, both in the Soviet Union and in the larger context of World War II." We have the so-called , which is an authorized transcription for chamber orchestra of Shostakovich's "Quartet No. 8" and Schnittke's , played by the Moscow Chamber Orchestra with Constantine Orbelian as soloist and conductor (DE 3259). A transcription is never meant to replace the original work, but do not let that deter you from enjoying the deep emotions evoked by this brooding piece, whose 5 movements are played without pause. The liner notes give an excellent account of how Shostakovich's 8th Quartet came to be composed and subsequently transcribed. It is the Schnittke work that grabbed my interest. Here the theme and variations format is turned on its head, giving us first the variations, combined with sonata form, to symbolize the way in which how a composer's mind seeks out order from the chaos of all possible note combinations. (Recall the opening of the last movement of Beethoven's 9th for a better known though less complex example.) Here, I think, the liner notes wax a little too poetic, but they are probably not far from what the composer might have had in mind. Lovers of 20th century music will find both works well worth the while; and for the rest, this Delos CD is a good introduction to Russian music in the latter part of the century."