Chamber Works: Serenade for Strings / Holberg Suite / Eine Kleine Nachtmusik

MARBECKS STAFF PICK: CD OF THE YEAR 2009

"A glorgeously refined Russian rendering of familiar repertoire. If these works are widely regarded as 'pop classics', this disc will make a refreshing change. Yuri Bashmet, consummate artist that he is, takes them seriously. He and his Moscow Soloists lavish interpretative care on these performances and the results are both beautiful and probing. Something of a gem."
Editor's Choice - Gramophone Magazine (January 2009)

Fourth release on ONYX from Moscow Soloists and this time it's a popular disc of string favourites that have beein their repertoire from the very beginning: Grieg and Tchaikovskys' homages to the forms of baroque and classical music and one of the favourite works from a composer who inspired them so much, Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik. This disc should be particularly easy to sell as the group play these works very often in concert as party-pieces.

ONYX and Moscow Soloists have enjoyed a very successful run: their first two discs (ONYX4007/ONYX4017) won a Grammy Nomination and Grammy Award respectively and their most recent recording of Tan Dun and Takemitsu (ONYX4027) has got great reviews so far.

Yuri Bashmet has also appeared on two other ONYX discs: his recent recital with Mikhail Muntian called Reminscences (ONYX4032) and as viola player in Julian Rachlin's all-star Shostakovich disc (ONYX4026).