Word: shostakovich
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Stravinsky's rhythms are followed by Bartok's harmonizations, then augmented by Shostakovich's wide intervals and sweeping string lines. Yoo's conducting was geared more towards entrances than anything else; what it lacked in expressiveness was gathered up by enthusiasm...
...change from the calm, reserved playing the orchestra usually produces in performances of the standard Teutonic masterworks. However, one can almost see a bunch of musicians in Moscow, completely ignorant of stylists such as Jelly Roll Morton and Duke Ellington, taking some joy in the fluffy flourishes of Shostakovich's work. These musicians had perhaps heard of Scott Joplin, and in fact Joplin seems the closest to Shostakovich in form...
...London disc also features a recording of Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 1, with Ronald Brautigam at the piano and Peter Masseurs supplying the trumpet solo work. The piece resembles Shostakovich's other concertos for violin and cello in that conventional devices of the Germanic school are used for delirious swells and placid falls, with the addition of unexpected minor chord modulations that open up new possibilities for the instrument. Those who see Shostakovich as a throwback to the Romantics should not underestimate the importance of his original variations on timetested themes...
...friend. Chintz turns into schmaltz at this point; the listener is treated to a seemingly endless (actually only three-minute-33-second) passing of the mindless theme from section to section. The best advice here is to listen for the melding of one texture into the next. Shostakovich manages to keep within the same balance of bass and treble parts, though he sometimes bursts into a gaudy burlesque...
...Shostakovich did not seek to achieve much more in the "jazz" medium, even after chinks in the Iron Curtain let the real music flow in. These pieces reflect, more than anything, the excitement of a young composer experimenting with something beguiling, mysterious and rather unknown to himself...