Russian Music for Cello and Piano
Nikolai MIASKOVSKY (1881-1950)
Cello Sonata No.2 in A minor Op.81 (1948-49) [23:11]
Alexander SCRIABIN (1872-1915)
Etude Op.8 No.11 for solo piano (1894) arr. Gregor Piatigorsky [4:03]
Alfred SCHNITTKE (1934-1998)
Musica Nostalgica (1992) [3:22]
Sergei PROKOFIEV (1891-1953)
Adagio from Ten Pieces from the ballet Cinderella Op.97b (1945) [3:51]
Sergei RACHMANINOFF (1873-1943)
Cello Sonata in G minor Op.19 (1901) [34:05]
Wendy Warner (cello); Irina Nuzova (piano)
rec. October 2008, Fay and Daniel Levin Performance Studio, WFMT, Chicago
ÇEDILLE CDR 90000 120 [68:55]
This recital begins and ends with two big Russian sonatas, and between them
come three brief pieces to form a convincing programmatic arc. Chronologically
one should start with the Rachmaninov sonata but it works best at the apex
of the disc, in view of its girth and also its expressive amplitude. So we
actually start with the sonata Miaskovsky wrote for Rostropovich in the late
1940s. This splendid example of the composer’s eloquence is made the more
so by virtue of its being very late Miaskovsky. This has tempted some players
toward distension, with the ensemble team of Marina Tarasova and Alexander
Polezhaev, for instance, taking it to the very limit by stretching the finale
to seven and a half minutes in length. That is simply not necessary, as numerous
duos have shown. The Warner-Nuzova duo navigates a steadier course through
the sonata, warm, lyrical, very expressive, with a sure sense of ensemble.
They make one major miscalculation in my view, however, which is to take a
too-slow tempo for the slow movement. They do sustain it by means of a lusciously
warm cantabile, but rather like the first two movements of Barber’s Violin
Concerto, which are too often undifferentiated in tempo and mood, the current
duo courts the same danger here. True, I think they mean to point up the more
assertive moments in this movement as an apt foil, but my concern remains.
Rostropovich – the work’s dedicatee - and Dedyukhin (in 1967) have the best
solution, and even though they are faster than any other team on record, they
don’t sound rushed [now on a vast 26 CD and 2 DVD box set; EMI 2 17597 2].
Rachmaninoff’s sonata is better shaped. In outline, though not necessarily
detail, it reminds me of one of my most prized recordings of the work, by
Knushevitsky and Oborin back in ’62. (it’s now included in the Brilliant box
devoted to the cellist – 8924). Technical challenges are met with splendid
aplomb, and the players strike a fine balance between sinew and elegantly
shaped rubato. Their use of colour and texture are highly effective, and the
warmth which they brought to Miaskovsky is equally palpable here, not least
in the glorious slow movement. This is a sensitively traversed and very well
argued performance.
The three central pieces offer an intriguing slant on Russianness. We have
Piatigorsky’s transcription of a Scriabin piano Etude, which is presented
with compelling intimacy, and also the adagio from Prokofiev’s ballet Cinderella.
Bisecting them is Schnittke’s Musica Nostalgica – a droll piece of minor key
baroque procedure, ingeniously spiced in the composer’s inimitable style.
The engineering has been excellently judged. A fine recital, then, with the
players very properly having their own view about things.
Jonathan Woolf
A fine recital with the players very properly having their own view about
things.