Download, Shostakovich (composer)

The playing here, disarmingly gentle yet tonally seductive, has a songful use of vibrato that recalls the expressive manners of Pierre Fournier and du Pré herself…A most rewarding CD then, sure... — Gramophone Magazine, March 2018 More…

The cycle has been a monumental achievement, and this final instalment is as shattering and insightful as earlier ones. It is hard to single out highlights, although orchestra and choir in the... — Sunday Times, 22nd October 2023, 5 out of 5 stars More…

The tone virtually throughout is dark and intense, most particularly the opening movement which sets the title poem…Muti confirms his identification with this work in its subsequent movements…Tikhomirov,... — BBC Music Magazine, April 2020, 5 out of 5 stars More…

This beautifully engineered studio recording under Kirill Karabits has all the necessary adrenaline to keep the listener fully engaged. Karabits is particularly effective in negotiating the... — BBC Music Magazine, September 2020, 4 out of 5 stars (Performance) / 5 out of 5 stars (Recording) More…

Bass Alexei Tanovitski could be more nuanced, but there's no faulting the Estonians' open, searing sounds...Bright, open children's voices join authentic choral fervour and the engineering gives... — BBC Music Magazine, August 2015, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Choral shortcomings apart, this makes a fine epilogue to Vasily Petrenko's magnificent Liverpool Shostakovich cycle...Alexander Vinogradov is the finest bass interpreter here since Sergey Alexashkin,... — BBC Music Magazine, November 2014, 4 out of 5 stars More…