Tan Dun - Pipa Concerto; Takemitsu - Nostalghia; Hayashi - Concerto-elegia

TAN DUN (b. 1957)

Concerto for String Orchestra and Pipa (1999)*

Toru TAKEMITSU (1930-1996)

Nostalghia for solo violin and strong** orchestra (1987)

 "in memoriam Andrey Tarkovsky"

Three Film Scores for Strings***

Hikaru  HAYASHI (1931-2012)

Concerto-elegia for viola and strings (1995)***8

Moscow Soloists

Yuri Bashmet (violin & conductor)

Roman Balashov (conductor)** ***

Wu Man (pipa)

*World Premier recording

A new CD from the Moscow Soloists and their charismatic director, Yuri Bashmet. Their first ONYX release (Symphonies by Shostakovich, Sviridov and Weinberg – ONYX 4007) won a Grammy nomination in 2007 and their second (Stravinsky’s Apollo and Prokofiev’s Visions fugitives – ONYX4017) won the Grammy Award 2008 in the Chamber Ensemble category.

This disc is the ensemble’s most enterprising so far, and features Bashmet as violist and violinist as well as director: a ‘Pilgrimage from Russia to the Far East’, an enterprising mix of cultures and flavours in works from China and Japan.

Tan Dun is of course well known in the West for his music to the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and is now based in New York. This world premiere recording is for pipa, a four-stringed ancient Chinese lute-like instrument. Wu Man is its foremost exponent and a prominent soloist as well as leading member of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road project.

The late Toru Takemitsu is Japan’s best-known composer. Nostalghia was written in memory of the Russian film director Andrei Tarkovsky (and features Bashmet on violin!). There are also three short film scores, Takemitsu’s favourite genre.

Finally, a substantial addition to the viola concerto repertoire – Hayashi’s Concerto Elegia (1995), a highly approachable and yearning score with hints of JanáÄek and Bartók as well as a distinctive Japanese flavour.