VALENTIN SILVESTROV

Valentin Silvestrov’s exquisite music has attracted global attention in recent months. Violinist Daniel Hope and pianist Alexey Botvinov now present an all-Silvestrov programme with their latest album for DG. Featuring the world premiere recording of Pastorales 2020 and a selection of ineffably beautiful companion pieces.

Hope says: “Silvestrov’s music lives and breathes melody. When we perform his works for an audience, it has a profound effect. Its simplicity is, I believe, the deepest form of nurturing one’s feelings and emotions right now. He gets to the core, to the source of being human. And he does that with a childlike simplicity. Yet his scores are tremendously dense with expression and dynamic markings. So what appears to be simple, basic melody is conceived within a constant state of change, a shifting of the tide. It’s restless, arresting music within a soft shell. I don’t know any other composer like him. His is a deeply emotional music expressed in very held-back terms.”