Igor Raykhelson (b. 1961)

[logeny]

Igor Raykhelson was born in St. Petersburg in 1961 and now resides in New York City.

Toccata Classics have issued two CDs of Raykhelson's music. 

The second - containing his Violin Concerto and Viola Concerto - is a major find and would be attractive to any lover of romantic music.

The VC, particularly, as the notes mention, is "downstream" from Korngold's.  It is a lush, gorgeous concerto and should be better known.

The darker Viola Concerto (composed for Yuri Bashmet) is lovely, too.

Don't miss this disc!

[kyjo]

May I second your words? The disc with the Violin and Viola Concertos is a real find-you can detect the influence of many of the great late-romantic composers, not the least of which is Rachmaninov :)! I enjoyed the earlier Toccata disc with his jazz-inspired works rather less, but it was still worth a listen. By all means, check out Raykhelson's website, where you can listen to other pieces of his, including concertos for cello and piano! Here it is: http://www.igorraykhelson.com/en/Composition

I truly hope Toccata continues to champion the highly enjoyable music of this composer :)!

[cjvinthechair]

Mmmm...thanks; another 'new' name to investigate - he has a YT site, & several full-length works seem to be available there !