Tchaikovsky: Serenade for Strings & Andante Cantabile Shostakovich: Chamber Symphony in C minor
Australian Chamber Orchestra
ABC Classics ABCL0109
*****
The Australian Chamber Orchestra’s most recent CD release on the ABC Classics label runs the gamut of 19th-20th-century Russian music, opening with Tchaikovsky’s joyful 1880 masterpiece Serenade for String Orchestra and ending with the equally masterful, but much darker, 1960 Chamber Symphony in C minor by Shostakovich.
Sandwiched between these two classical masterworks is the ever-beautiful Tchaikovsky Andante Cantabile, given here its full romantic potential by the ACO’s master cellist, Timo-Veikko Valve. The ACO, led by Richard Tognetti, presents a faultless performance, once again cementing its reputation as one of the world’s very best chamber groups. A must for any collector of Russian masterworks.
-Michael Morton-Evans