Takemitsu is of course Japan’s best-known composer. Nostalghia was written in memory of Russian film director Andrei Tarkovsky (and featuring Bashmet on violin!), plus three short film scores, Takemitsu’s favourite genre. Finally, a substantial addition to the viola concerto repertoire – Hayashi’s Concerto “Elegia” (1995), a highly approachable and yearning score with hints of Janacek and Bartok as well as a distinctive Japanese flavour.

Sunday Times

25th May 2008

**

“Tan Dun’s four-movement Pipa Concerto...is, as one might expect, eclectic, vibrant, colourful and immediate; but, as with much of his work, the piece seems more theatrical effect than substance. Wu Man plays the pipa - a Chinese-style lute - beautifully. [In Hayashi's Viola Concerto] Yuri Bashmet gives the viola solo part with his usual powerfully rich tone, and he is equally good on the violin in Takemitsu’s Nostalghia (1988), a meditative tribute to the film director Andrei Tarkovsky. The Moscow Soloists, superb throughout, also give three extracts from Takemitsu’s large canon of film music.”

Gramophone Magazine

October 2008

“This is the first recording of … Tan Dun's Pipa Concerto, and it's an absolute knockout. With strong, vigorous direction from Yuri Bashmet and some wonderfully extrovert playing from both the Moscow Strings and well known pipa exponent Wu Man, Tan's overt theatricality bursts forth like a rampant Chinese dragon. Bashmet is the soloist in both Nostalghia and Elegia, and it would be difficult to find a better advocate for these works.”