Blackbirds

Description

Nicolas Altstaedt's initial intention was to record the grandiose Second Concerto for Cello and Orchestra by Polish composer Grazyna Bacewicz (1909-1969): "As I was sight-reading this work, I immediately asked myself: why is it never played? It is astonishing to see how just a few notes suffice to instantly sketch a completely original universe."Pianist and conductor Maxim Emelyanychev here conducts the Swedish Radio Orchestra and then accompanies his accomplice Altstaedt 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 2... Next comes, this time for solo cello, the sonata by Sandor Veress, one of Altstaedt's favorite composers: composed in 1967, this flagship work of the solo cello repertoire completes this panorama of 1960s music, which concludes with a live recording of the famous Blackbird by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, with the lute and voice of Thomas Dunford, in a church in Portugal at midnight as the bells ring.