Ravel, Shostakovich & Kasputin (The Royal Academy of Music Bicentenary Series)

The Royal Academy of Music Bicentenary Series continues with the debut album from Latvian violinist Roberts Balanas, who counts Sir Elton John among his fans. In this album, we see Roberts’s classical side, yet with some unexpected turns.

Roberts Balanas enjoys a wide range of musical interests. Combining his background in classical music with the sound worlds of pop, rock and funk, his solo violin arrangements have amassed millions of views across the web. For his Linn debut Roberts has chosen a classical programme comprising Ravel’s second violin sonata, a highly original and dizzyingly virtuosic work suffused with jazz and blues, Ravel’s celebrated Pavane pour une infante défunte in an arrangement by Louis Fleury, two of Shostakovich’s Preludes Op. 34 (arranged by famed Beethoven Quartet’s first violin Dmitri Tsyganov) and Kapustin’s exuberant violin sonata.

Prize-winning Chinese pianist Siqian Li provides perceptive accompaniment.