Classical Home listening - Reynaldo Hahn, Shostakovich and Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk

The Guardian 0

James Baillieu and friends luxuriate in French romanticism, the Belcea Quartet turn to Shostakovich, and Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk on iPlayer

• Reynaldo Hahn (1874-1947), who moved in the same circles as Marcel Proust, has a reputation of being a louche Frenchman specialising in salon songs. Instead he was born in Caracas, to a German-Jewish father and local Venezuelan mother. The family emigrated to Paris when he was three, remarkable logistically considering he had 11 older siblings. Reynaldo Hahn: Chamber Music & Song (Champs Hill) features the instrumental music, notably the Piano Quintet in F sharp minor (1921) and the late Piano Quartet No 3 in G (1946). With their tonal, romantic mood and luscious melodies, these works might have been written a century earlier. Beautifully played here by the pianist James Baillieu, with Benjamin Baker and Bartosz Woroch (violins), Tim Lowe (cello) and Adam Newman (viola), they’re a pleasurable discovery.