Poulenc, Walton, Dallapiccola, Schnittke, Silvestrov

Duo Gazzana Poulenc Walton Dallapiccola Schnittke Silvestrov
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Artist: Duo Gazzana, Alfred Schnittke, Francis Poulenc, Valentin Silvestrov, William Walton, Luigi Dallapiccola
Genre: Classical
Label: ECM New Series

Duo Gazzana, who are the Italian sisters Natascia Gazzana (violin) and Raffaella Gazzana (piano), offers a selection of backward-looking works written between 1922 and 2009. The real surprise is the earliest, William Walton's Toccata, a biting, hard-hitting take on a centuries-old style, quite out of keeping with the tenor of English music in the 1920s. The latest, Valentin Silvestrov's Hommage à J.S.B., is in the Ukrainian composer's typically meditative and musing style, and ends with the effect of a heavenward drift. The players' studied manner brings Alfred Schnittke's 1972 Suite in the old style close to the world of Kreisler's baroque recreations. Poulenc's 1943 Violin Sonata sounds soft-centred, Luigi Dallapiccola's Tartiniana seconda of 1956 affectionately playful. url.ie/kh67

Michael Dervan

Michael Dervan

Michael Dervan is a music critic and Irish Times contributor