Poulenc, Walton, Dallapiccola, Schnittke and Silvestrov

The second ECM New Series album by Italian sisters Natascia and Raffaella Gazzana draws together a fascinating programme with a strong narrative line. On this recording of works by composers from France, Britain, Italy, Russia and Ukraine, older music is viewed through the prism of the new, and affinities are imaginatively explored - through the ages, across geographical borders and idiomatic divisions.

Alfred Schnittke's "Suite In The Old Style" reflects, temperamentally, upon Bach and Scarlatti, while echoes of Bach's sonatas resonate in Valentin Silvestrov's 2009 composition "Hommage à J.S.B." Luigi Dallapiccola's "Tartiniana seconda" addresses the music of baroque composer Giuseppe Tartini with canonic mastery.

Francis Poulenc's powerful "Sonate pour violon et piano", written in occupied France in 1942-3 is dedicated to the memory of murdered Andalusian poet Federico Garcia Lorca. William Walton's rarely-heard Toccata, written when the composer was just twenty, bursts with ideas, acknowledging the virtuosic demands of the Toccata form, inviting improvisational responses from both violin and piano in the cadenzas, and drawing rhythmic impetus also from jazz (Walton was an early Ellington enthusiast).

Personnel: Natascia Gazzana (violin), Raffaella Gazzana (piano)