Alfred Schnittke - Symphony No.7; Cello Concerto No.1

Alfred Schnittke

Symphony No.7; Cello Concerto No.1

Alexander Ivashkin (Cello)

Russian State Symphony Orchestra

Valeri Polyansky

I have blown hot and cold over the late Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998), who might well be, as his enthusiasts claim, the real successor of Shostakovich in Russian, Post-Soviet, music. I owned a half-dozen of the BIS recordings of his music, but gave them away a year or so ago, except for the two cello concertos and the Concerto Grosso/Symphony (No. 4/No. 5). The two solo vehicles, despite their high level of harsh dissonance, are musically entirely convincing. I also remain steadfast by the Eighth Symphony (on Chandos, with Polyansky), where the level of dissonance has dropped down several notches and the instrumental textures have become quite spare. The new Chandos CD brings us the Seventh Symphony (1994), again under Polyansky, and the First Cello Concerto (1986), with Alexander Ivashkin as soloist. The Seventh Symphony, Schnittke's most Shostakovichian, consists of three gnomic movements: An Andante (5.03), a Largo (3.51), and an Allegro (14.31). Although it calls on a standard ensemble, its spare textures make it sound like a chamber symphony. (It has been arranged for chamber forces.) The dynamics of this symphony rarely rise above a discreet mezzo forte. The First Movement opens with violin alone, eventually joined by the rest of the strings and some of the woodwinds. The Second Movement follows attaca. It, too, concerns mostly the strings; long pauses mark the "progress" (say rather the "anti-progress") as the music slowly disintegrates into isolated sounds. The Third Movement calls forth the spirit of Shostakovich and makes use, among the spare sounds, of a banal waltz-tune that assumes ironic importance, as in one of DSCH's late string quartets. This symphony will haunt listeners for a long time, and I predict that they will return to it. What makes the two cello concertos so impressive is their symphonic character; they are indeed more symphonic than at least half of the nine symphonies. In this reading of the First Concerto, Polyansky softens the outlines compared with Leif Segerstam on BIS; cellist Ivashkin cooperates with maestro Polyansky in this approach. Not that the ragged edges of this music could ever be blunted, but the quieter dynamic levels serve to remind us that this music came from the desk of an invalid trying to recuperate from a stroke. By the time the concluding Fourth Movement Passacaglia had played out, Polyansky and Ivashkin had convinced me that Schnittke belongs among the greats of the second half of the 20th century.

Amazon Review