PENTATONE releases Schnittke’s Cello Concerto No. 1 with Matt Haimovitz in JUNE 2025.
Cellist Matt Haimovitz, together with the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra and conductor Dennis Russell Davies, continues to spotlight rarely heard and powerful cello concerti, brought to life through dynamic recordings. Following the acclaimed release of Thomas de Hartmann’s Cello Concerto, the series now presents a landmark work of 20th-century music—Alfred Schnittke’s Cello Concerto No. 1, a deeply personal and transformative work born from the composer’s near-death experience.
“This anthem of our time builds to a blinding ecstasy. The life-affirming high D is sustained for what feels like 20 days – the period Schnittke spent in a coma. The chant re-emerges, hallowed out in harmonics, fading out like our own fragile passage through time.” – Matt Haimovitz
Watch Matt Haimovitz, the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra and conductor Dennis Russell Davies in rehearsal’s with an extract from Schnittke’s Cello Concerto No. 1 Movement II at the link above.
Digital Release Date: 27 JUNE 2025
