Melodiya presents recordings of 20th-century cello music performed by Oleg Vedernikov and Alexey Goribol.

The name of Alexey Goribol, a pianist, public figure, Honoured Artist of Russia and organizer of numerous festivals and music projects is well known to the domestic and foreign listeners, while the name of Oleg Vedernikov whose life ended up so tragically in 2015 is less known to a wide audience. This album is dedicated to the memory of the remarkable cellist. A graduate of the Ural Conservatory in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg), Oleg Vedernikov won a silver medal of the 2nd All-Union cello Competition in Yaroslavl in 1988. Then he took a graduate course at the Moscow Conservatory with Natalia Shakhovskaya and was one of her favourite students. Together with Alexey Goribol, Vedernikov won the first prize at the chamber competition in Trapani, Italy.

This recording was made in 1993 when Oleg Vedernikov’s performance, in his peers’ opinion, was on top of cello art. The cellist and the pianist make a brilliant ensemble unveiling the entire contradiction and figurative wealth of contemporary music. It was the first joint work to both of the musicians, and it was followed by many years of fruitful artistic partnership. The album features cello sonatas by Dmitri Shostakovich and Alfred Schnittke, and works by Leonid Desyatnikov and Rodion Shchedrin.