This high-calibre chamber-music playing is a terrific way to get to know some powerful works. Violinist Ilya Gringolts, cellist Daniel Haefliger and pianist Gilles Vonsattel perform with extraordinary sympathy and a sense of unity, yet they each have strong personalities. The two trios and violin sonata often confront situations of great pain and anguish in Shostakovich’s life, but they still sing with breathtaking beauty—something these players convey stunningly. The recording, made in Zurich, is particularly fine—detailed yet glowing and given just the right amount of ambience.
- Isabelle Faust, Anne Katharina Schreiber, Danusha Waskiewicz, Kristin von der Goltz, James Munro, Lorenzo Coppola, Teunis Van Der Zwart & Javier Zafra
- Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Yannick Nézet-Séguin & Marc-André Hamelin
- Pablo Heras-Casado, Javier Perianes & Munich Philharmonic
- Gary Hoffman, Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège & Christian Arming
- Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra & Gustavo Gimeno
- Alexander Melnikov & Olga Pashchenko