William Walton: Viola Concerto & Alfred Schnittke: Passacaglia for large orchestra

Firma Melodiya presents a live recording of works by the music classics of the 20th century William Walton and Alfred Schnittke made at the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory.

Walton finished his viola concerto in 1929. It was performed for the first time by the outstanding German composer and violist Paul Hindemith and very soon became a popular piece bringing the young composer world-wide fame. The concerto signifies the coming of the English composer’s artistic maturity – it was one of the first concertos that took a firm place in viola repertoire.

Alfred Schnittke composed his Passacaglia for orchestra in 1980. That was the first time when the composer turned to a large orchestral line-up. Refracting an ancient form through the prism of his own style and freely using a vast arsenal of composing techniques of the 20th century, Schnittke anticipated his monumental symphonic ideas of the 1980’s in the Passacaglia.

The compositions by Walton and Schnittke were recorded at the concert of Yuri Bashmet and the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Moscow State Philharmonic Society conducted by Dmitri Kitayenko on April 6, 1982. Through his activities, Yuri Bashmet, an outstanding musician of today, favoured the extension of viola repertoire, and Dmitri Kitayenko, who became the leader of one of Moscow’s best orchestras after Kirill Kondrashin left the country, were the first performers of these works in the former USSR.