The one composer who’ll make you laugh Album Of The Weeknorman lebrecht August 02, 2026From the Lebrecht Album of the Week:Alfred Schnittke: Works for two violins (Naxos)****Name a composer who makes you laugh. Not smile as Haydn does when his musicians walk out during the Farewell Symphony, or grin as Mozart can do with his puerile musical jokes. I mean laugh out loud, a full-throated chortle at the absurdities and pomposity of the musical process and the constraints it places on free expression. Schnittke, who spent almost his entire life in the Soviet Union sometimes seems to be saying: if you can’t laugh at the situation, you must be dead. The first, for 2 violins, a harpsichord and a John Cage-style prepared piano, has almost too many jokes for one session.