Anniversary Edition

Remarkably extensive though it is, the Discogs database doesn't contain everything, with its coverage of classical releases patchier than that of rock, pop & jazz ones. Had I continued to rely on the 'Random Item' button there, then I wouldn't have been in a position to write about this 2-CD Anniversary Edition album which brings together notable performances of half a dozen works by the Soviet composer Alfred Schnittke: as far as I can tell, no-one has added it there yet*.

The album was released in 2020 on the Russian Melodiya label, intended to mark what would have been the composer's 85th birthday (but a year late for that). It's a handsome package with a very informative booklet in an unusual double-digipak which folds out into an L-shape. I bought it when it came out, being particularly interested to get a recording of his 'Concerto for Piano and String Orchestra' (1979), which I'd been listening to via YouTube. It's represented here by an early live recording featuring its dedicatee Vladimir Krainev at the piano: and it's a fully enthralling performance.

Also thrilling is the 'Piano Quintet' - again recorded live, featuring the Borodin Quartet and Eliso Virsaladze as the pianist. I've always had mixed success with Schnittke, whose music, thanks in part to his struggles with a debilitating succession of strokes, can seem oppressively anguished; and these discs are no exception: I have yet to untangle and fully appreciate works like his 'Sonata No. 2 for Violin and Piano (Quasi una Sonata)' and his 'Concerto Grosso No. 4/Symphony No. 5' (a single opus, despite the title). Even just for the two works mentioned above, however, this is an album well worth hanging on to.

* While this was true at the time of writing, as of January '24, this release has found its way into the Discogs database.

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