SHOSTAKOVICH Chamber Symphonies (arr. Rudolf Barshai)

“The Dmitri Ensemble…[show] evident discipline and commitment…[they] succeed in making Barshai’s scored version sound alert rather than listless.” --BBC Music Magazine, June 2015 ****

“Shostakovich’s music and Rudolf Barshai’s very understanding re-imagining of it is expertly served in these superb performances, both in the technical sense and emotionally … Graham Ross and his expert colleagues make a wonderful case for these works and their outstanding performances have been captured in very fine recorded sound, produced and engineered by John Rutter.” --MusicWeb International, 18th August 2015



The Dmitri Ensemble, Graham Ross

The Dmitri Ensemble under Graham Ross performs Shostakovich's String Quartets Nos. 1, 8 and 10, re-worked as thrilling Chamber Symphonies for string orchestra by his pupil and advocate, Rudolf Barshai. Written in Dresden 1960,

Shostakovich was sent there to compose a film score but was overwhelmed by the aftermath of WWII bombings which he saw; the result was the 8th quartet.

Named after Dmitri Shostakovich, the Dmitri Ensemble is based around the central core of a string ensemble, with a special commitment to presenting both unjustly neglected and newly-penned works with an innovative approach to engaging concert programming. Under the direction of the co-founder and Principal Conductor, Graham Ross, it has worked alongside living composers and has an increasingly diverse discography.

The Ensemble’s collaborations with the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, for hm USA, include a highly-praised recording of choral works by Imogen Holst, which received both Diapason d’Or and Le Choix de France Musique awards, and which was shortlisted for a 2013 Gramophone Award and 'Lux de caelo: Music for Christmas', released in 2014, was widely praised in the national and international press, selected as Christmas Choice, BBC Music Magazine, 2014. Their latest release in a series of works for the church year, which have regularly made the Top 10 of the UK Specialist Classical Charts, is 'Ascendit Deus: Music for Ascensiontide and Pentecost' with the Choir of Clare College, released March 9th.

“The rendition as a whole is nothing if not fresh and finely poised, the band’s relatively modest forces placed in generous acoustic (St John the Evangelist, Upper Norwood) without loss of clarity or focus. Indeed, the results are superb … Recommended.” --Gramophone Magazine, May 2015

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