Nicolas Altstaedt’s starting point for Blackbirds 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 favorite 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.
Nicolas Altstaedt, Violoncello
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Maxim Emelyanychev, Conductor & Piano
Tracklist
Please note that the below previews are loaded as MP3.Total time: 00:58:34
Additional information
| Label | |
|---|---|
| SKU | ALPHA1213 |
| Qualities | DSD 512 fs, DSD 256 fs, DSD 128 fs, DSD 64 fs, DXD 24 Bit, WAV 96 kHz |
| Channels | |
| Artists | Maxim Emelyanychev, Nicolas Altstaedt, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra |
| Composers | |
| Genres | |
| Conductors | |
| Original Recording Format | |
| Mastering | Martin Kistner |
| Recording Engineer | Hugo Romano Guimarães, Ines Kamman, Jens Braun, Philipp Nedel |
| Editing | Hugo Romano Guimarães, Ines Kamman, Jens Braun, Philipp Nedel |
| Release Date | April 14, 2026 |
Press reviews
Gramophone
Altstaedt’s musical partnership with Maxim Emelyanychev is as impressive in Britten’s Cello Sonata as it is in the Bacewicz concerto… with similarly fine performances of the other movements, this is an outstanding version of the sonata.
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