Nicolas Altstaedt - Shostakovich, Lutoslavski & Weinberg: Cello Concertos (2016) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

We proudly annouce a new artist on Channel Classics: German/French cellist Nicolas Altstaedt, renowned for his creativity and versatility, in captivating performances of repertoire on both gut and modern strings.

On this first recording with Channel he combines music of three comtemporaries.

Weinberg, for the western world a well-kept secret of the Soviet Union, was born in Warsaw. In 1939, with German troops at his heels, Weinberg fled to the Soviet Union where met Shostakovich, who he viewed as his teacher. With a considerable dash of klezmer music, particularly in the second movement, he seems to have added his own signature to his Cello Concerto.

Shostakovich composed both his Cello Concertos for his good friend Mstislav Rostropovich. No. 1 contains one of the longest cadenzas of all solo concertos and a finale that is described as ‘the will to live, as a conquest in the struggle for happiness’.

An enormous discipline in terms of form may be discerned in Lutoslawski’s music.

He had studied mathematics for several years, and in his works he aimed to create clearly perceptible forms and contours. In Stalinist Poland Lutoslawski’s Little Suite was embraced and acclaimed as an exemplary model of realism.

TRACKLIST

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)

01. Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-Flat Major, Op. 107: I. Allegretto
02. Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-Flat Major, Op. 107: II. Moderato
03. Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-Flat Major, Op. 107: III. Cadenza
04. Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-Flat Major, Op. 107: IV. Allegro con moto

Witold Lutoslawski (1913-1994)

05. Mala Suita (Little Suite): I. Fujarka (Piccolo)
06. Mala Suita (Little Suite): II. Hurra Polka
07. Mala Suita (Little Suite): III. Piosenka (Song)
08. Mala Suita (Little Suite): IV. Taniec (Dance)

Mieczyslaw Weinberg (1919-1996)

09. Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in C Minor, Op. 43: I. Adagio
10. Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in C Minor, Op. 43: II. Moderato - Lento
11. Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in C Minor, Op. 43: III. Allegro - Cadenza
12. Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in C Minor, Op. 43: IV. Allegro

PERSONNEL
Nicolas Altstaedt (cello)
Deutsches Symfonie-Orchester Berlin
Michal Nesterowicz (conductor)