All four works on this disc date from the early 1980s, by which time Denisov's reputation had begun to make inroads into Western awareness. Though accorded only a dozen or so curt lines in the 1974 volume of the Soviet Muzykalnaya Entsiklopediya, he came to be regarded as one of Russia's more acceptable modernists; now in his early sixties, he has had to tread a cautious though courageous path in trying to reconcile his music 'acceptably' to various Western influences-in early days Bartok and Stravinsky, later serialism, in the works on this disc an awareness of Lutoslawski, Ligeti and perhaps Part. There is ample evidence of intelligent musicianship, and of a fine ear; his structures are generally simple, his favourite mood here elegiac. The Concerto for two violas, harpsichord and strings deploys grave, luminous textures in what is, behind the freely chromatic movement, a progress from a D major chordal centre to a final G major. Denisov identifies his devotion to the note D with the Latin names of God (Deus, Dieu, Dio) moving to G for the Teutonic forms (Gott, God): does the major third of G on which the piece prominently ends, B, signify Slavonic forms (Bog, Buh)? It would seem natural. The Chamber Music for viola, harpsichord and strings is in not dissimilar vein, conjuring sound complexes that are well-judged, and here includes some ingenious playing with a theme by the composer who seems to fascinate Denisov, Bach: here, it is the C minor Fugue from the 48, in the Variations the chorale Es ist genug which has become best known to us nowadays through Berg's Violin Concerto. The Epitaph is more post-Schoenbergian in manner, a brief gesture in epitaph to Salvador Allende. The performances seem sympathetic to Denisov's mood; the recording is sensitive to his soundcomplexes. John Warrack
(From: Gramophone, September 1992)