The result is a kaleidoscope of Prokofiev’s chamber music, combined with a wonderfully fresh instrumentation of the Visions fugitives for 10 instruments by the pseudonymous clarinetist Dirk Altmann. There have probably been few composers as changeable, both stylistically and in terms of compositional technique. Uninhibited boldness – such as different phrasings and dynamics of the same melodic line sounding simultaneously – alternates with elements that seem conventional. Passages of breath‑taking virtuosity and daring on the one hand contrast with remote, delicate and melancholy moods on the other, of a person who probably always sat between all chairs and never truly arrived anywhere. A cosmopolitan ahead of his time. And in between, again and again, new strange harmonies and that typical sarcastic? resigned? relentless? rhythm that fits so well with the Russian history of the 20th century. An adventure.

Andreas Spreer (2016)