ALFRED SCHNITTKE (1934-1998): Symphony No. 0, Nagasaki for Mezzo-Soprano, Mixed Choir and Orchestra.

Catalogue Number: 06I001

Label: BIS

Reference: CD-1647

Format: CD

Price: $19.98

Description: Even collectors who don't like Schnittke will want this. Dating from 1956-57, the symphony could snidely be described as the Myaskovsky Symphony No. 28 with a strong dose of the Shostakovich 10th. As Schnittke put it, "There are long developments and long climaxes in my music not because I am imitating Shostakovich, but because I grew up in an atmosphere related to his music, and saturated with his ideas." The elegant and expressive style of the melodies in the symphony come pretty directly from Myaskovsky. Gorgeous stuff, over 40 minutes, in the traditional four movements. Nagasaki (1958) uses one of the largest orchestral complements of Schnittke's career (including eight horns and a theremin). The choir sings, shouts and moans; many elements obviously come right from Carl Orff but other unusual sonorities are heard as well. The Composers' Union didn't care for this at all. But you will. It's hardly Penderecki's Hiroshima, but you can easily see how it rattled the Soviet musical cage at the time. Russian (Cyrillic)-English texts. Hanneli Rupert (mezzo), Voice of the Nation, Cape Philharmonic Orchestra; Owain Arwel Hughes.

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