Fascinated by the way gypsies played the violin, Béla Bartók and Maurice Ravel composed miniatures for violin and orchestra that go beyond the function of virtuosic exhibition. Both Tzigane and the Rhapsody are inspired by the liveliness of traveling violinists and make a superb recreation of the Magyar sound tradition. Carry on reading
The Chamber Symphony Op. 73a by Dmitri Shostakovich concludes the programme. It is one of the four chamber orchestra adaptations that conductor Rudolf Barshai made of the author’s string quartets. Specifically, Op. 73a is a transcript of quartet no. 3, Op. 73, one of the last works that Shostakovich composed before the Zhanovist purge of 1947 that forced him to remove several works from his catalogue based on accusations of “formalism”, including this quartet.
