The music of Ukrainian composer
Thomas de Hartmann
reflected some of the 20th century's major trends. A student of
Anton Arensky
and
Sergei Taneyev
, he began with late Russian Romanticism, went through a modernist phase due to a friendship with
Wassily Kandinsky
(they devised some music-and-art pieces that seem as though they would be well worth reviving), and later came under the influence of the mystic
Georgi Ivanovich Gurdjieff
and became interested in Asian musical traditions. The two works here, both from the last part of his career, reflect the latter influence but in a specific way. This album lives up to its promise of rediscovery for
de Hartmann
, who was championed by
Serge Koussevitzky
and the
Budapest String Quartet
but is now almost forgotten; the album both marks the first recordings of
's
Violin Concerto
Cello Concerto
, and it offers top-notch performances that propelled it onto classical best-seller charts in the summer of 2024. Getting violinist
Joshua Bell
, still looking boyish in his late fifties, must have been a major coup for the producers, and the soloist in the
is
Matt Haimovitz
. The
Violin Concerto, Op. 66
, is a remarkable work. Originating in occupied Paris in 1943, it inflects
's Eastern style toward klezmer music, unmistakably referring to the ongoing Holocaust in Germany. Unsurprisingly, it was not premiered until after the war. Sample the "Menuet fantasque" third movement for an idea of what
was up to. The
Cello Concerto, Op. 57
, of 1935, also uses Jewish materials with its reference to cantorial singing in its "Solenne" slow movement. Providing support for the world-class soloists are the
INSO-Lviv Symphony Orchestra
under conductor
Dalia Stasevska
in the
MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra
. The two performances were recorded two years apart and were perhaps not conceived as a single release, but what matters is that someone realized their relevance to each other; this music is indeed a major rediscovery of great power. ~ James Manheim