MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

REVIEW


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

Buy through MusicWeb
for £5.99 postage paid World-wide.

Musicweb Purchase button

Zoltán KODÁLY (1882-1967)
Duo for Violin and Cello, Op. 7 (1914) [24:03]
Capriccio for Solo Cello (1915) [5:21]
Sonata for Solo Cello, Op. 8 (1915) [32:37]
Karine Georgian (cello); Marco Rizzi (violin)
rec. The Warehouse, London, 2000. DDD
ALTO ALC 1138 [62:04]

Experience Classicsonline




 
Even though these performances were recorded as long ago as 2000, they are being issued now for the first time. The two main pieces here are among the composer’s earliest and have become staples of the cello and cello/violin repertoire. Indeed, the Solo Cello Sonata has often been cited as the best of its kind since Bach’s Cello Suites. Kodály’s early works were instrumental and included solos, duos, trios, and quartets. He studied both piano and violin before taking up the cello and became quite an accomplished cellist. Thus, he demonstrated a real affinity for the instrument in these early compositions. Later he became best known for his choral and orchestral music.
 
Anthony Phillips in his notes to the CD cites the composer on the genesis of the Duo. Kodály was in Switzerland when World War I was declared and "unexpectedly conceived the inspiration for a duet" while there. He alluded to the impression of the high Alps and the forebodings of war as having influenced the Duo. Phillips sees this influence in the martial theme that erupts during the lyricism of the second movement beginning before the 2:00 mark. The work is cast in three movements with the first more or less in sonata form and the finale utilizing gypsy rhythms and folk-inspired material. The Duo provides plenty of opportunities for virtuosity in both the violin and cello parts and with contrapuntal development between the two sonorities. It receives a powerful performance that is so closely recorded as to become harsh at times. Marco Rizzi and Karine Georgian do not short-change the listener in the emotion of the piece, but can in their intensity push their tone almost over the edge. That they succeed in not doing so is to their credit.
 
The remainder of the disc is for cello alone. The short Capriccio is placed between the two major works and consists mainly of scale patterns and octaves. However, it is a real challenge for cellists in its virtuosity, even if it does not have much substance. The Solo Cello Sonata, on the other hand, is one of the greatest works for the instrument and the most often performed and recorded of the works on the disc.
 
From its famous opening theme, where Kodály has the cello employing scordatura - the cello is tuned a semitone down - giving the instrument an especially rich and deep timbre, to the dazzling finale that is like some wild Hungarian dance, the Sonata remains in one's head long after it has finished. It has received many recorded performances and Georgian's can certainly join the best of them. As in the Duo, she projects all the power and emotion that the work contains and is not afraid to produce an ugly sound when that is required. If I were to put forward just one recording of the these two masterworks appearing together, it would be Janos Starker's of the Sonata with Josef Gingold in the Duo on Delos. Theirs may be considered the benchmark in terms of the utter naturalness and beauty. Another superb recording of the Sonata that also contains three of Kodály's works for cello and piano is the EMI debut CD of the Korean cellist Sung-Won Yang with pianist Ick-Choo Moon. If you want all of the composer's works for cello, though, you will find them on two Naxos discs with Maria Kliegel as cellist. Georgian and Rizzi are in the same class and do complete justice to the works on the present disc.
 
Leslie Wright
 

 

 

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools






Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.