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Blackbirds

Nicolas Altstaedt (cello), Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Maxim Emelyanychev

Blackbirds
Altstaedt and pianist-conductor Emelyanychev have wonderful musical chemistry in this sophisticated album of 1960s compositions..Unreservedly recommended.

Blackbirds

Nicolas Altstaedt (cello), Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Maxim Emelyanychev

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This release includes a digital booklet

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Altstaedt and pianist-conductor Emelyanychev have wonderful musical chemistry in this sophisticated album of 1960s compositions..Unreservedly recommended.

About

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.

Contents and tracklist

I. Allegro fantastico
Track length6:00
II. Adagio
Track length4:47
III. Allegro
Track length6:07
I. Dialogo
Track length7:08
II. Scherzo
Track length2:18
III. Elegia
Track length5:40
IV. Marcia
Track length2:04
V. Moto Perpetuo
Track length2:37
I. Dialogo. Allegro Moderato
Track length6:44
II. Monologo. Larghetto
Track length4:28
III. Epilogo. Allegro
Track length2:34

Awards and reviews

July 2026

Altstaedt and pianist-conductor Emelyanychev have wonderful musical chemistry in this sophisticated album of 1960s compositions..Unreservedly recommended.

May 2026

Altstaedt's musical partnership with Maxim Emelyanychev is as impressive in Britten's Cello Sonata as it is in the Bacewicz concerto...Strongly recommended, especially for the Britten.
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