L'invitation Au Voyage

References The cd of the Basel Chamber Orchestra highlights the connections between French and Russian music at the end of the 19th century. Dmitry Smirnov performs the 1st and 4th violin concerto by Édouard Lalo. The latter has the nickname "Concerto russe" because it contains songs from Rimsky-Korsakoff's collection of folk songs op. 24. Smirnov has now arranged these songs himself for chamber orchestra or for violin and orchestra. Presented in this context, the songs add a very interesting new flavour to the musical bridge-building.

Reviews

"Smirnov, who plays on both historical and modern instruments (and here on gut strings), distinguishes himself as a brilliant violist without merely displaying his technique. It is a contemplative, enigmatic, very tonally variable virtuosity that is always seeking musical substance. The chamber orchestra under Heinz Holliger plays at the highest level, clear-sounding, transparent and enormously sensitive." (FONO FORUM, December 2023)