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Review.
SCHNITTKE: Cello Sonata with RACHMANINOFF: Cello Sonata PART: Fratres nri Barta; Marian Lapsansky, p Supraphon 2156 (Koch) 73 minutes with KODALY: Cello Sonata SZYMANOWSKI: Cello Sona an-Erik Gustafsson; Heini KBrkinen, p Ondine 827 (Koch) 66 minutes These two discs are held together both by the presence of the Schnittke Sonata and by the fact that they both present young artists in perhaps their first recordings.
The Supraphon disc begins with a beautifully controlled Rachmaninoff. The two players are well matched, each determined to bring out everything he can find in the music.
Voices and balances are remarkably clear. If there is anything lacking, it might be a feeling of the composer's own personality, which is a little more volatile than this well-planned but perhaps too thoughtful performance gives us. But they do give us a satisfying amount of detail and a surprising variety of tone quality--particularly the cellist, who controls his vibrato from practically none to too wide to hear the pitch. The Schnittke responds well to this kind of control: the difficult series of slow doublestops in I is beautifully in tune, while the mechanical mayhem of II is a tour-de-force of planned violence. The final spiral upwards in the cello is remarkable in its total vehement accuracy. The apotheosis of the finale paints a picture of loneliness and despair worthy of Shostakovich. Arvo Part's Fratres exists in several different scorings. This one was transcribed from the version for violin and piano. It is a monolithic tone poem lasting 13 minutes.
The Ondine disc opens with a transcription of Karol Szymanowski's Opus 9 Violin Sonata by cellist Kasimierz Wilkomirski. The turn-of-the-century angst of this work with its abrupt contrasts and huge effects comes across well on the cello, and it is played with conviction by these young musicians, to whom nothing seems too difficult. Their control and exuberance is equal to and not unlike their Supraphon colleagues. There are even moments when Szymanowski recalls the Rachmaninoff sonata. All in all, it is one of the most effective-sounding transcriptions I have heard from a violin original, played to the hilt by Gustafsson and Karkainen. The Kodaly Opus 4 is also made much of--the darkness of the first movement is emphasized, and the volatile and humorous aspect of II is well portrayed. The Ondine players are just as technically accomplished as their Supraphon rivals and they have an edge in humanity that makes their Schnittke more musically satisfying though perhaps less deeply horrifying. It is the climax of the Ondine disc.
Both of these are outstanding performances. I will follow these musicians' careers with interest. I tend to like the mood of the Ondine release better in principal, but the technical wizardry of the Supraphon performance has a powerful attraction as well.
Copyright Record Guide Publications Jul 1995