RACHMANINOFF: Cello Sonata with SHOSTAKOVICH: Cello Sonata; SCHNITTKE: Suite in the Old Style / KABALEVSKY: Cello Sonata

Abstract

A Russian program by a Russian pair and by an Australian and an American should lead us somewhere, one would think. In this case, both pairs are a bit on the outskirts of performance practice-not a bad place to be in this repertoire. [Leonid Gorokhov] and [Nikolai Demidenko] start off with [SCHNITTKE]'s classical movie score turned violin suite, here transcribed quite happily for cello by cellist Daniil Shafran. Stravinsky it ain't, but it is a pleasant and amusing takeoff on baroque styles.

RACHMANINOFF: Cello sonata with SHOSTAKOVICH: Cello Sonata; SCHNITTKE: Suite in the Old Style

Leonid Gorokhov; Nikolai Demidenko, p

ASV 4006-78 minutes

with KABALEVSKY: Cello Sonata

Antony Cooke; Armin Watkins, p

Centaur 2676-64 minutes

A Russian program by a Russian pair and by an Australian and an American should lead us somewhere, one would think. In this case, both pairs are a bit on the outskirts of performance practice-not a bad place to be in this repertoire. Gorokhov and Demidenko start off with Schnittke's classical movie score turned violin suite, here transcribed quite happily for cello by cellist Daniil Shafran. Stravinsky it ain't, but it is a pleasant and amusing takeoff on baroque styles. Then we get into the Shostakovich, a curious piece that has lent itself to a number of different approaches since he wrote it back in the early 1930s. This pair plays the first movement in a basically slow tempo, making much of the harmonic moves and contrapuntal suggestions. In fact, they take it so slowly and in such an improvisatoiy mood that they see no point in taking the exposition repeat. It is the first time I have heard the coda sound right in the lugubrious quarter=50 that the composer suggests. The scherzo sounds even wilder than usual in contrast. The slow movement is another spate of improvisation, played with good variety of sound, if phrased rather jaggedly in places. The finale is one of the slowest I have heard, following the Russian edition's quarter=152 rather than the American 176. This makes the piece at least possible to play at a consistent tempo, though the relaxed ending is so quiet as not even to surprise you with its goal-kick of an ending. Shostakovich allowed this piece to be so ambiguous that you can do a lot of different things to it without hurting it much. This reading is interesting, though a little kookier than necessary. The same technique applied to Rachmaninoff leads to a good deal of meandering. All repeats are omitted and I miss the swirling textures Earl Wild brought to the piano writing in his classic reading with Harvey Shapiro. Stretching out Rachmaninoff's lyric phrases like this is not as effective as it can be in Shostakovich.

Cooke and Watkins have a similar approach; they omit all repeats and stretch the tunes out to the point of practical immobility sometimes, though their basic tempo for the scherzo is lively and dramatic. The Centaur sound is more emphatic in the high frequencies than ASVs, though basically balanced and pleasant. The virtuoso Kabalevsky Sonata is played also for its lyrical qualities, with many unwritten rubatos and hesitations, breaking up the composer's lines and forward movement. This music can take it. There is a certain roughness in Cooke's tone that makes some of his phrases sound crude, mainly because he is too close to the microphone; and Watkins's piano is not very consistent in its voicing.

I am not totally happy with either of these releases, despite and, to some extent, because of their unusual approach to the music. Certainly the Rachmaninoff, by far the longest work, loses more than it gains by a primarily meditative approach. I note that the Centaur is a re-release from a smaller company (Jan/Feb 2000). I really hated it then. If you want this coupling, try Leslie Parnas and Malcolm Frager (Arcadia 1992), probably deleted after 11 years, or Tim Hugh and Kathryn Sturrock (Musicmasters 49) from about the same time. Both are excellent (May/June, 1993). If the Rachmaninoff-Shostakovich combination interests you, try David Finckel and Wu Han (Artistled 19901, July/Aug 2001). They don't take the repeats, either, but do squeeze in the Prokofieff sonata as well.

DMOORE