Dana Zemtsov

Dana Zemtsov – Silhouettes (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:11:40 minutes | 2,30 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Channel Classics Records

The young violist Dana Zemtsov is a versatile player who has recorded music of her native Mexico as well as from various European traditions. Here, she and pianist Anna Fedorova weave English, Dutch, French, and Romanian pieces into an evocative sequence in which all the music falls generally into the French sphere and is informed by the inimitable way the French have with nostalgia. Debussy is represented in venerable transcriptions, and much of the music derives from the retrospective strands of his personality. The program opens with the Viola Sonata of Rebecca Clarke, influenced by the Violin Sonata in G minor of Debussy but a more tense and exacting work. It receives a precise performance here, but the real fun begins when Zemtsov relaxes into some more purely neoclassic works. There is a fine sonata by the little-known composer Arne Werkman and a lovely rendition of George Enescu’s Concert Piece for viola and piano. However, the real highlight is the fairly obscure Viola Sonata No. 1, Op. 240, of Milhaud, written during World War II but redolent of the gentle hillsides of California, to which the composer fled. The work brings out Zemtsov’s best quality: her remarkable way with lyrical melodies, which are abundant in this work. The whole thing is highly listenable in music that’s generally unfamiliar, except for the Debussy, and it’s beautifully recorded.

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Dana Zemtsov – Essentia (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:00:46 minutes | 1,01 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Channel Classics Records

One of the biggest dilemmas of our generation is where are we from, who are we, what is our identity? Globalization has made the whole world closer, bringing our cultures more and more together. I myself am a product of this mix, being born in Mexico to Russian parents with a Jewish background, having studied at a French school in Norway and grown up in Holland. Consequently I have often thought about these questions: which culture is closest to me? What am I? I could feel at home and relate to all these cultures and yet I am not really part of any of them.

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Dana Zemtsov – Dutch Hidden Gems (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:05:15 minutes | 2,04 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Channel Classics Records

This programme is a wonderful little treasure chest overflowing with musical gems for the viola, all composed in Holland in the twentieth century. Even more delightful is the thought that these pieces and their four composers abide in the twilight of Dutch musical life and seldom if ever come to the attention of soloists and orchestras. They spotlight a beautiful solo instrument – the viola – which is not exactly seen as the prima donna of the podium, and which usually occupies a modest place as a middle voice in the orchestra or string quartet. This is the first recording of the Concertino for viola and orchestra of Jan Koetsier.
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