A brilliant melting pot of discoverable works

Erik Levi enjoys Patricia Kopatchinskaja and friends' eloquent performances of lesser-known works by exiled composers

- Erik Levi

Exile

Works by A Panufnik, Schnittke, Schubert, Wyschnegradsky, Ysaÿe et al Thomas Kaufmann (cello); Camerata Bern/Patricia Kopatchinskaja (violin) Alpha Classics ALPHA1110 74:53 mins

Exile reinvents nationalism. Loss and trauma imbue the psyche with an inner turmoil and a sense of longing for the country of your birth. Equally, such feelings coexist with a burning necessity to assimilate into a different cultural environment, thereby creating new paths of expression. This turbulent mix is inevitably reflected in the music written by composers who experienced the trauma of displacement, whether as a result of political, racial or financial persecution.

In this brilliantly recorded programme, violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Camerata Bern eschew some of the more familiar exiled composers of the 20th century, opting instead to feature a sequence of fascinating and stylistically diverse works, all of which deserve to be far better known.