Tatiana Shamratova Rene Rofe Lingerie

For the selection of the program for his CD on TYXart, the horn player Herve Joulain was less interested in a representative cross-section of the repertoire, but rather focused on pieces with a lot of expressive power. The arrangements, some of which are his own, preserve the simplicity and purity of the original music. The result is an impressive showcase for the musician.

The dignified bearing and quiet wisdom of Nikolai Myaskovsky (1881–1950) gained him the sobriquet of ‘the conscience of Russian music’ – and those qualities are reflected in the unemphatic strength of his music. His orchestral, chamber and instrumental works are regaining the currency they once enjoyed, but his large corpus of songs, many of them understated masterpieces, has yet to attract systematic attention – a situation this series hopes to remedy. The pairing here of his late Violin Sonata with his last two song-cycles for soprano and piano mirrors the Moscow concert in 1947 when all three were given their first performances.

These preludes and fugures by Shostakovich are not the easiest in the world for interpretation. Think a Slavic Bach. It is unfair to call these works "modern" and it's not just because they are with the confines of a Medieval form. But sometimes the listener will catch something that is reminiscent of 20th centyury Soviet music. These works are miniatures - a form totally at odds with the usual way we consider the composer. Tatiana Nikolayeva is simply brilliant in her interpretation - the clarity is startling. It may take a while but this is a recording that appreciates the more it is heard.