Valentin Silvestrov: Hieroglyphen der Nacht – soundscapes haunted by the past

Moments of silence and sadness . . . Hieroglyphs of the night . . . Echo of a waltz . . . Echo of a sarabande – the work and movement titles from this collection of pieces for one and two cellos tell a lot about the haunted soundscapes of the Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov. Silvestrov seems to be inexorably drawn to the aching losses of the past, and in thrall to the lingering traces of favourite musical shapes and harmonies. Yet pieces in memory of Tchaikovsky and for the birthday of Schumann are pure Silvestrov. Anja Lechner and her partner in the two-cello pieces, Agnès Vesterman, sound fully attuned to the world of these diary-like, gentle obsessions. bit.ly/2xSd03o