Ustvolskaya - Sonata for Violin & Piano

Here is an excellent introduction to Galina Ustvolskaya, whose direct and uncompromising style amazingly reached maturity under Stalin…Only the earliest recording really shows its age with a... — BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2017, 5 out of 5 stars More…

Ustvolskaya's choice of dissonance and evocative chords have a precision of aural imagination which seem to bloom in ECM's empty hall acoustic. — BBC Music Magazine, January 2015, 5 out of 5 stars More…

These are all magnificent performances, as one might expect from these three musicians, who regularly perform together as a trio, and their sound is superbly and rawly caught by ECM's recording. — BBC Music Magazine, October 2006, 5 out of 5 stars More…

The passion for this music is evident in the performances of the sonata and duet, the former seemingly a fist raised in defiance of the state, the latter seemingly reeling. — BBC Music Magazine, August 2019, 3 out of 5 stars More…

Schleiermacher aptly describes the most percussive sections of the compellingly performed Fifth Sonata as ‘a bloodbath on the keys’. There are also some moments of repose, but in Schleiermacher’s... — BBC Music Magazine, August 2018, 3 out of 5 stars/5 out of 5 stars More…