Glass: Concerto For Violin And Orchestra / Schnittke: Concerto Grosso No. 5 for Violin, an Invisible Piano & Orchestra

This is one of the major releases of the 1990s. It begins with Glass's Concerto of Violin and Orchestra (1987), one of the best examples of Minimalism around. The genuine surprise here is Schnittke's Concerto Grosso No. 5 for Violin: An Invisible Piano and Orchestra (1990), which is actually a violin concerto, or a concerto grosso with violin obbligato. What it has in common with Glass's concerto is its overriding sense of play. Schnittke, for all his daring and his mastery of a wide range of writing styles, is one of the few composers with a sense of humor, or delight. --Paul Cook