On January 27, in International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Vladimir Spivakov and the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia released a new recording, which can be heard on all leading streaming services. It features Dmitri Shostakovich's vocal cycle "From Jewish Folk Poetry", written to the texts from a collection occasionally bought by the composer for reading during a train trip. Initially, the score was composed for three voices with a piano, hereafter orchestrated by the composer himself.
In all the 11 songs there are no genuine Jewish melodies but they all are very close intonationally to Jewish music about which the composer said: 'I am never tired of admiring it, its multifacetedness: it may seem to be joyful while being tragic. There is almost always in it laughter through tears. This trait of Jewish folk music is very close to my understanding of what music must be in general. There should always exist two layers simultaneously.'
The Cycle was recorded at the Moscow International Performing Arts Center in June 2024, with the assistance of the well-known sound engineer Pavel Lavrenenkov. Along with the maestro and the NPR, the performance of Shostakovich's masterpiece featured Bolshoi Theater soloist Anna Aglatova (soprano) and soloists from the Kolobov Novaya Opera Theater: Polina Shamaeva (mezzo-soprano), Mikhail Gubsky (tenor), and Alexei Neklyudov (tenor).