Vadim Gluzman, Angela Yoffe - Auerbach, Shostakovich: Ballet for a Lonely Violinist - Music for violin & piano (2006) Hi-Res

I read a rave review of Vadim Gluzman in concert, and since I hd never heard of the Ukraine-born, naturalized Israeli violinist, I sought out this CD. The 45-year-old virtuoso is from the Oistrakh-Vengerov mold: intense, large-scaled, and powerful. All his talents are needed in the late, bleak Shostakovich Violin Sonata. The cover art, showing Gluzman dressed in black gazing out over a flat gray landscape typifies the music. At times almost chaotic in its suffering, moving from harsh declamation to whispered sorrow, this gaunt, disjointed sonata speaks to many Russians very deeply, and Gluzman's intense reading, accompanied by his gifted wife, pianist Angela Yoffe, ranks with the very best.

Clearly this is a major artist demanding to be heard. The other striking offering on this CD is a searing one-movement sonata inspired by the horror of 9/11. The young emigre composer, Lera Auerbach, writes disconnected episodes whose gestures of grief and shock are masterfully done. A solo suite, dedicated to Gluzman, is subtitled "Ballet for a Lonely Violinist." The idiom varies widely, from a mounrful folk melody you might hear on a Warsaw street to a slashing blend of Bach partita and Shostakovich finger exercise. The only upbeat music on this recording is a fairly tepid violin and piano arrangement of Shostakovich's Jazz Suite No. 1, which has always sturck me as mediocre pseudo-jazz that's too much Iron Curtain, not enough Duke Elington.

In any event, such a desolate collection isn't likely to win many fans, but Gluzman is the real thing, a major Russian-style violinist who deserves to find wide acclaim.