Maximilian Steinberg (1883-1946)

Violin Concerto, Op. 37 (1946) SL
1. Allegro molto
2. Lento non troppo
3. Allegretto

Symphony No. 4 "Turksib". OP. 24 (1933)
4. Across Sands and Mountains
5. Rhapsody Songs of the Past and the Present
6. Guiding the Steel Road
7. Chaitan-araba (Devil's Chariot)

Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Martin Yates - Conductor
Sergey Levitin - Violin
World Premiere Recordings

Multi-ch Stereo
All tracks available in stereo and multi-channel

SA-CD
This hybrid CD can be played on any standard CD players

Maximilian Steinberg was a pupil – and son-in-law – of Rimsky-Korsakov in pre-Revolutionary Russia, exhibiting all the orchestral and lyrical characteristics one might expect of such a heritage. (Steinberg himself would later be a teacher of Shostakovich.) The Turksib Symphony – his fourth – completed in 1933, celebrates the building and completion of the Turkestan-Siberia Railway. Using Kazakh folk melodies and in four richly scored movements, it is an inspiring discovery. Contrastingly, Steinberg’s final work, the post-war Violin Concerto, has a valedictory and autumnal feeling, and soloist Sergey Levitin encompasses the virtuosic writing with complete authority while finding the music’s passionate and romantic manner.

CDLX7341

“Inspired by the opening of a new railway, the filmic ‘Turksib Symphony’ bears the marks of the Stalinist era in which it was written. It's an enjoyable, ... as is the autumnal Violin Concerto.” JP, Brief Notes, BBC Music Magazine