You'd have to be a die-hard purist not to appreciate the virtues of these two fascinating transcriptions. The Violin Sonata remains one of the Shostakovich's most uncompromising works… Recorded live at concerts given in Russia, Gidon Kremer and his marvellous Kremerata Baltica respond to the music with searing commitment, the audience remaining totally gripped throughout the performance. A similar degree of concentrated intensity is present in the Viola Sonata. Although Yuri Bashmet's tempo for the opening movement may seem too slow and indulgent for the composer's prescribed marking of Moderato, the conviction of the playing surmounts initial misgivings, as it does in the Adagio which emerges here as an incredibly moving farewell to life.