Blackbirds

Bacewicz, Grażyna, Britten, Benjamin, Feldman, Morton, różni kompozytorzy, The Beatles, Veress, Sándor

Altstaedt, Nicolas, Emelyanychev, Maxim, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra

Alpha 1213

Nicolas Altstaedt's starting point for this recording was the magnificent Second Concerto for Cello and Orchestra by Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz (1909–1969): "On reading through the work for the first time, I immediately thought: why is this never played? Astonishing, how with just a few notes she can make a whole world appear."

Pianist and conductor Maxim Emelyanychev conducts the Swedish Radio Orchestra and accompanies his friend in a work composed two years earlier: Benjamin Britten's Sonata for Cello and Piano, as well as a work by Morton Feldman from 1960, Durations II... Next comes a sonata by Sándor Veress, one of Altstaedt's favourite composers, this time for solo cello: composed in 1967, this landmark work in the solo cello repertoire completes this overview of music from the 1960s, which concludes with a live recording of John Lennon and Paul McCartney's famous Blackbird, recorded with Thomas Dunford on lute and vocals, in a church in Portugal as the bells strike midnight.

Works:

•Bacewicz: Cello Concerto No. 2
•Feldman, M: Durations II for Cello and Piano
•Britten: Sonata for cello and piano in C major, Op. 65
•Veress: Sonata for solo violoncello
•Lennon & McCartney: Blackbird

CD x 1

Alpha

20.04.2026

3701624512135