For the Record, Op. 330: Cellist Yo-Yo Ma; Esther Abrami; Arabella Steinbacher

April 24, 2025, 3:31 PM · Welcome to "For the Record," Violinist.com's weekly roundup of new releases of recordings by violinists, violists, cellists and other classical musicians. We hope it helps you keep track of your favorite artists, as well as find some new ones to add to your listening! Click on the highlighted links to obtain each album or learn more about the artists.

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Photo by Winslow Townson.

Shostakovich: The Cello Concertos
Yo-Yo Ma, cello
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Andris Nelsons conducting

"I think Shostakovich’s artistic truth was to represent the voice of the voiceless," said world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma. The release of this album coincides with the 50th anniversary of the composer’s death in 1975 and is part of an upcoming anthology bringing together the BSO’s decade-long, Grammy Award-winning Shostakovich project. Recorded in October 2023 concert at Boston’s Symphony Hall, these two very different works were both dedicated to the great Soviet cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, who was also a close friend to Shostakovich. Rostropovich premiered the first concerto in 1959 and the less-frequently played second concerto in Moscow on September 25, 1966, Shostakovich’s 60th birthday. BELOW: Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-Flat Major, Op. 107: I. Allegretto

Women
Esther Abrami, violin

French violinist Esther Abrami presents a tribute to women composers with her new album showcasing 14 composers, with newly composed works and rediscovered masterpieces. The album features Oscar winners Rachel Portman and Anne Dudley, as well as new arrangements of compositions by historic composers such as Pauline Viardot, Chiquinha Gonzaga, Teresa Carreño or Ethel Smyth. The album also includes "Transmission," an original composition by Esther Abrami. At its heart is the world-premiere recording of Ina Boyle’s Violin Concerto, a late-Romantic composition. "For as far back as I can remember, the only classical music I ever came across was written by male composers," Abrami said. "I studied classical music for over 15 years in some of the top music schools and conservatoires in the world. During those years I never played a single piece written by a woman. I simply didn’t know they even existed - turns out they did! This album is my tribute to them." BELOW: March of the Women," by Esther Abrami, featuring a voice sample of Emmeline Pankhurst, a leading figure in the suffragette movement fighting to obtain women’s right to vote.

Beethoven & Lentz
Arabella Steinbacher, violin
Luxembourg Philharmonic; Gustavo Gimeno, conducting

Violinist Arabella Steinbacher, the Luxembourg Philharmonic and conductor Gustavo Gimeno present violin concertos by Beethoven and Georges Lentz. To Steinbacher, Beethoven's violin concerto is the most "sacred" and sublime in the repertoire, never ceasing to reveal new perspectives. The piece is coupled with Sydney-based composer Georges Lentz' Violin Concerto "... to beam in distant heavens...," written for Steinbacher and inspired by her virtuosity. Lentz' concerto is equally inspired by William Blake's poetry, as well as the idea that a future generation will one day look back on us and the way we destroy our planet. BELOW: "An Elegy for our Grandchildren's Planet," from Georges Lentz' Violin Concerto, "...to beam in distant heavens..."

Weinberg String Quartets, Vol. 5: Nos. 3, 9, 14, Improvisation and Romance
Arcadia Quartet
Ana Török, violin
Rasvan Dumitru, violin
Traian Boala, viola
Zsolt Török, cello

The Arcadia Quartet, based in Romania, reaches the penultimate release in its series of complete string quartets by the 20th-century Polish-Soviet-Russian composer Mieczyslaw Weinberg. As in previous volumes, the works are taken from contrasting periods of Weinberg’s compositional development. Quartet No. 3, composed in 1944, could be considered as his first “mature” quartet, and is set in three movements. The Ninth Quartet, composed in 1963, dates from his self-described “starry decade,” when his work was championed by a significant group of enthusiastic performers, including Emil Gilels, Leonid Kogan, Kirill Kondrashin, Rudolf Barshai, and the Borodin Quartet. Quartet No. 14 dates from 1978, three years after the death of Weinberg’s great friend and mentor Shostakovich: a time when Weinberg was questioning and renewing his artistic identity. The album also includes the short Improvisation and Romance, from 1950. BELOW: Weinberg's String Quartet No. 14, Op. 122, mvt. 1.

Hommages
United Strings of Europe; Julian Azkoul, artistic director

Founded in 2013, United Strings Europe is a London-based ensemble made up of young professionals from across the European Union and Switzerland with the goal of promoting musical and cultural cooperation at the highest level. Their new album - its fourth - celebrates past traditions renewed by contemporary voices, from the myth of Apollo and the muses of Greek Antiquity to musical legends of the 20th century, Carlos Gardel and Astor Piazzolla. It also includes world premiere recording of artistic director Julian Azkoul's arrangement of Igor Stravinsky's neo-classical ballet "Apollon musagete," composed during the 1920s. BELOW: "Apollon musagète," Second tableau, by Igor Stravinsky, arranged for chamber ensemble by J. Azkoul: Pas de deux.

adjust
Anzû Quartet
Olivia De Prato, violin
Ashley Bathgate, cello
Ken Thomson, clarinet
Karl Larson, piano

The Anzû Quartet was created in 2020 with the mission of paying homage to Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time – whose unusual instrumentation often leads to performances by ad hoc groups rather than permanent ensembles – by actively commissioning and performing new works for that configuration. This album features the work of two composers, Anna Webber and Ken Thomson. Anna Webber’s "adjust," composed for the Anzû Quartet in 2022, is a five-movement work reacting to themes of artistic and musical identity and the thawing of the COVID-19 pandemic, taking inspiration from both avant-garde jazz and new classical music. "Uneasy," written by Anzû Quartet's clarinetist Ken Thomson, was the first piece written for the Anzû Quartet. BELOW: Ken Thomson’s "Uneasy: I"

If you have a new recording you would like us to consider for inclusion in our "For the Record" feature, please e-mail Editor Laurie Niles. Be sure to include the name of your album, a link to it and a short description of what it includes.

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For the Record, Op. 330: Cellist Yo-Yo Ma; Esther Abrami; Arabella Steinbacher

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