VALENTIN SILVESTROV (b.1937): Symphony No. 7*, Concertino for Piano and Small Orchestra*, for Soprano and Orchestra: Ode to a Nightingale, Cantata No. 4*, Moments of Poetry and Music. * - First Recordings.

Description: Silvestrov’s elusive post-modern style is rich in nostalgia for the lost music of a barely remembered past filled with beauty and spiritual aspiration. Ode is a masterly response to Keats’ unsentimental reflection on human mortality, contrasting with the beauty and affecting intimacy of the Cantata No. 4 and the resonant emotional world of its companion piece, the Concertino. Starkness set against elegiac melancholy are the shared features of Moments and the symphony – an embodiment of Silvestrov’s dual musical nature of anguish and tenderness. Texts and translations available online. Inna Galatenko (soprano), Oleg Bezborodko (piano), Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra; Christopher Lyndon-Gee.