Elvira Misbakhova – Destins tragiques (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 49:33 minutes | 898 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Les Disques ATMA Inc.
The viola is front-and-centre in Destins tragiques, a new album by violist Elvira Misbakhova with I Musici de Montréal conducted by Jean-François Rivest. Destins tragiques presents works that were originally composed in the 1930s based on tragic figures from Shakespeare — Romeo and Juliet, and Lady Macbeth, who was later featured as the title character of an 1865 novella by Nikolai Leskov.These works were subsequently reinterpreted in a more contemporary key: an arrangement for viola and piano orchestrated for viola and string ensemble of Prokofiev’s ballet Romeo and Juliet, and a Fantasy on themes from the opera “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” by Shostakovich, a work rearranged for viola and string ensemble by Canadian composer Airat Ichmouratov.
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Jean-Philippe Sylvestre, Elvira Misbakhova, London Symphony Orchestra, Airat Ichmouratov – Ichmouratov: Piano Concerto, Viola Concerto No. 1 (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:15:53 minutes | 1,19 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Chandos
Volga-Tatar-born Canadian composer and conductor Airat Ichmouratov conducts the London Symphony Orchestra for this recording of two of his major works, Chandos’ third album dedicated to the works of this outstanding composer. Both concertos are recorded here by the soloists who premiered each work. Ichmouratov’s first viola concerto was conceived in 2004, whilst he was a conducting student at the Universite de Montreal. His fellow Ph.D. candidate, the violist Elvira Misbakhova, wanted something new for her doctoral performance, preferably a concerto that combined lyrical impulses and virtuoso challenges. The resulting work is a large-scale piece in three movements that exploits and celebrated the naturally sombre character of the instrument. The Piano Concerto was written in six months in 2012 – 13 and then lingered in a drawer for almost a decade awaiting a soloist who could both do it justice and add finishing touches to the solo part. Jean-Philippe Sylvestre, a Montrealer with a fondness for the virtuoso tradition, was himself looking for a new concerto to champion. Ichmouratov gratefully acknowledges the contributions made to the solo part by Sylvestre, the concerto’s dedicatee.
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Evgeny Bushkov, Belarussian State Chamber Orchestra, Elvira Misbakhova – Airat Ichmouratov: Letter from an Unknown Woman (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:00:04 minutes | 1,12 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Chandos
Montreal-based since 1998, Airat Ichmouratov (born 1973) traces his musical roots back to the dominant culture in his native Tatarstan in Soviet times: ‘It was definitely the Russian school of composers’, he says, without rancour. ‘I’m influenced to this day by Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Mussorgsky, Rachmaninoff, and Tchaikovsky. My own musical style has evolved out of this rich heritage.’ There’s more. The Volga Tatar-born Russian-Canadian composer learned to play klezmer music while busking, together with his viola-playing wife, as new immigrants on the streets and Métro of Montreal. ‘I’ve been touring the world for twenty years as a clarinettist with the Montreal band Kleztory and find myself, a Muslim-born musician, playing klezmer. This, too, is now a distinctive part of my musical language.’ (From introductory notes by Keith Horner)
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Djokic, Tyniec, Misbakhova, Dominguez, Sylvestre – Mathieu: Musique de chambre (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 57:34 minutes | 1,02 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ATMA Classique
André Mathieu: Musique de chambre includes the recording of two unpublished pieces by Mathieu (Désir and Nocturne) as well as his Trio of and Quintet, and works for violin and piano. Pianist Jean-Philippe Sylvestre is joined by sought-after musicians – Andrea Tyniec (violin), Marc Djokic (violin), Elvira Misbakhova (viola), and Chloé Dominguez (cello) – for this album dedicated to André Mathieu, one of the leading figures in the classical music world in Canada.
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