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*** Gidon Kremer and Kremerata Baltica

SILENCIO

(Nonesuch)

The young Kremerata Baltica won fans with the adaptations on their Eight Seasons CD, which combines the nuevo tango of Astor Piazzolla with Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. On their second recording, master Latvian violinist Gidon Kremer’s evocative technique shapes the ensemble’s spirited grace on a selection of meditative 20th-century works, as they apply traditional stylings to modern motifs. For Philip Glass’s Company, which was recorded as String Quartet #2 by the Kronos Quartet in 1986, Kremer adapts a more deliberate pace, and the Kremerata’s exacting performance bathes the original in lush textures. On Come In!, by Russian composer Vladimir Martynov, they give full play to the piece’s symphonic pastoral romanticism.

The CD also features a sharp first recording of Arvo Pärt’s short, Gypsy-flavored Darf Ich. But the standout is an edgy new version of Pärt’s Tabula Rasa. This is a dramatic favorite from Kremer’s repertoire, and his crew have honed the prepared piano part and given the violin solos some breathing room. And in the intensely melancholy 18-minute second movement, Kremer and guest violinist Tatjana Grindenko (who shares his gift for pure, soaring tone), develop the icy themes with instruments that cry as desperately as any human could.

— Tristram Lozaw