Hartmann, Weinberg & Shostakovich: music for violin

A new recording of Hartmann’s Concerto funebre is always welcome, and a performance as polished and committed as this should win the piece new friends: anyone moved by Berg’s concerto will find much to respond to here. If Roth is not to be preferred to Ibragimova (Hyperion) here, nor to Kremer (ECM) in Weinberg’s quirky concertino, he presents here the torso on an unfinished wartime sonata by Shostakovich. This is a tantalising glimpse of what might have been, and well worth hearing.

GUY WEATHERALL Read the full review on Agora Classica