Scottish Ensemble - Ravel and Shostakovich - The Observer

Linn's fourth disc with the talented Scottish Ensemble, a pioneering partnership which has rightly won much admiration, realises the ambition of artistic director Clio Gould to commission arrangements for string ensemble of chamber works by the great impressionist composers. She has found the perfect partner in the Russian viola player-turned-conductor Rudolf Barshai, whose re-workings of Ravel's F major quartet and Shostakovich's Chamber Symphony Op 118a give the ensemble the perfect chance to show off its mastery of the genre. Combining a thrilling intensity with flawless technique, this is string-playing as flawless as it is eloquent.