Saturday, 22 November 2025

Schnittke: Concerto for two pianos

Day 326

Schnittke: Concerto for two pianos

Victoria Postnikova

Irina Schnittke

State Symphony Orchestra

Gennadi Rozhdestvensky

I don’t think that I have heard any of Schnittke’s music so I started this with an open mind. I thought it was rather a good piece. It is extrovert in character and although written in a modernist style it is not too challenging. It is difficult to describe quite how the music fits into the 20th century musical world. Some of the rhetorical devices are not a million miles away from Prokofiev of Shostakovich, but the sound world at times reminded me of Ives. Yet elsewhere it could have been by Britten. It was quite ‘splashy’ in places and I am sure would make an effective piece in a concert. There is plenty more Schnittke to explore  - I am not really sure where to start.

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