Although the Cello
Sonata is often recorded and well-known,
the ‘other’ sonatas recorded here have
(judging by the number of CD recordings
available, or the relative infrequency
of their inclusion in recital programmes)
made comparatively little impact on
the music-loving public. Small surprise,
you may say, for these products of the
composer’s last years are full of agony,
uncertainty and mystery, to say nothing
of the sparseness of texture and contrapuntal
dialogue which so often typifies Shostakovich’s
invention. They are intensely personal
and almost private pieces, which are
unwelcoming to the unwary, but rewarding
to those who are patient and genuinely
inquisitive. Indeed, for all their near-impenetrability,
some consider them among his greatest
achievements.
For the performer,
they require long periods of quiet concentration,
with so much that is sustained and exposed.
But prolonged and hushed slow music
so often gives way - in the inner movements,
for example - to relentless and feverish
rhythmic activity. So these pieces require
a wide range of technical and tonal
control, and an intimate understanding
of their secrets, if they’re to add
up to more than the sum of their many
disparate parts.
The CD notes offer
no introduction or information on this
music, other than a reference to their
dates of composition, dedicatees and
first performers. Instead, we have bland
biographical notes on the composer and
- much more extensively - on the performers
and the violin-maker, Boris Bratichev.
Levon Ambartsumian, we’re told, graduated
from the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory
with a special Artist Diploma, and won
prizes at the Zagreb International Violin
Competition in 1977, the Montreal International
Competition in 1979, and in 1981 the
All-Union Violin Competition in Riga.
He became ‘Honoured Artist of Armenia’
in 1988 and ‘Honoured Artist of Russia’
in 1997, since when he has appeared
as soloist with the Moscow Philharmonic,
Bolshoi Theater, Kirov Opera and Philharmonic
orchestras of Budapest, Bucharest, Sofia
and Peking - among others! Latterly,
he has held teaching posts in the USA,
at Indiana University School of Music
in Bloomington, and at the University
of Georgia School of Music, where this
CD was recorded.
With credentials such
as these, I would have expected much
more polish and authority than we have
here. There’s a good deal of unpleasantly
sour intonation in both high tessitura
and double-stopped passagework, and
unsteady tone. The bizarre Mahlerian
dance music, such as in the Viola Sonata’s
Allegretto movement, often sounds
tame and apologetic. There’s a certain
composure in the outer movements of
both pieces, which eases our journey
through these intensely long slow movements:
but, except perhaps in the closing bars
of the disc, his sound is seldom beautiful.
His accompanist is more than competent,
but like Ambartsumian himself he lacks
the dynamic and emotional range necessary
in this repertory. Indeed, neither artist
plays with believable conviction.
I must also report
on a ridiculously short pause between
the two main works which results in
the Violin Sonata’s closing pages being
followed almost seamlessly by the opening
of the Viola Sonata. This kind of thing
can ruin the listening experience!
If it’s this coupling
you’re after, there are excellent bargain
alternatives in Shlomo Mintz and Victoria
Postnikova on Elatus (0927495542)
and - very much sounding its age, but
uniquely authoritative - no less than
Oleg Kagan and Yuri Bashmet with Sviatoslav
Richter on Regis (RRC1128).
For the Violin Sonata,
consider Ilya Grubert and Vladimir Tropp
on Channel Classics (CCS16398)
coupled with the 24 Preludes, Op. 34,
and the Three Fantastic Dances, Op.
5: or Rostislav Dubinsky and Luba Edlina
on Chandos (CHAN8343) with two
sonatas by Schnittke for company. Better
still, there’s Daniel Hope and Simon
Mulligan on Nimbus (NI5631) as
part of a diverse programme including
music by Penderecki, Pärt and Schnittke:
and Christian Bergqvist and Roland Pontinen
on BIS (BISCD364) coupled with
items by Stravinsky and Schnittke. All
these alternatives are a notch or two
above Ambartsumian and Sheludyakov.
As for the Viola Sonata,
the composer’s very last statement,
you’d be better off with Lars Anders
Tomter and Håvard Gimse on Somm
(SOMMCD 030), which also includes
a persuasive arrangement for viola and
piano of the Op. 40 Cello Sonata. There’s
a Naxos (8.557231)
recording of the same coupling - minus
the music from The Gadfly - by
Julius Drake and Annette Bartholdy,
which, slowish tempi notwithstanding,
can be confidently recommended. Or you
can have the same pieces on Calliope
(CAL 9326) played on the
cello by Petr Prause, with Yakov Kasman
accompanying. All three of these alternatives
offer more refined, dedicated and eventful
music-making than Ambartsumian and Sheludyakov.
The CDs themselves are also more attractively
packaged.
Peter J Lawson
.
Levon Ambartsumian (violin/viola); Anatoly Sheludyakov
(piano) 
