Sergei Rachmaninov; Frédéric Chopin - Cello Sonatas (Alisa Weilerstein)

Information

Composer: Sergei Rachmaninov; Frédéric Chopin

• (01-04) Rachmaninov - Sonata for cello and piano in G minor, Op. 19
• (05) Rachmaninov - Vocalise, Op. 34 No. 14
• (06-09) Chopin - Sonata for cello and piano in G minor, Op. 65
• (10) Chopin - Étude in C sharp minor, Op. 25 No. 7 (arr. Auguste Franchomme)
• (11) Chopin - Introduction et Polonaise brillante for piano and cello in C major, Op. 3
• (12) Rachmaninov - Romance in F minor
• (13) Chopin - Prélude in A major, Op. 28 No. 7 (arr. Auguste Franchomme)

Alisa Weilerstein, cello
Inon Barnatan, piano

Date: 2015
Label: Decca
https://www.deccaclassics.com/us/cat/4788416

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Review

It’s a bold musician who dares to duet with Alisa Weilerstein. So much is out of the question: complacency, clichés, safety nets. So much relies on emotional extremes and instincts as quick as this American cellist’s. Who has the stamina, and the stomach, for it?

Inon Barnatan fits the bill, judging from this Rachmaninov and Chopin programme; it’s hard to imagine many cellist-pianist duos more mutually fond of risk-taking. They certainly don’t hold back in Rachmaninov’s Cello Sonata, often pushing it to the brink of breaking point. That’s what makes the first-movement climax so intoxicating, and why the second communicates with such fire-bellied urgency. But it’s at the opposite end of the spectrum that they really make their mark. In the third movement Barnatan finds a delicate songfulness to rival even Stephen Hough’s. And neither Mischa Maisky nor Natalie Clein can match Weilerstein’s sense of mystery in the first.

What emerges is an interpretation in which no single colour outstays its welcome. The same goes for Chopin’s Cello Sonata, whose sense of restlessness suits this duo well: just listen to them dart between the thunderous outbursts and the tranquil oases of the first movement. Then sample Weilerstein’s tone at 1'58" into the second movement, as it melts into something beyond recognition. Occasionally you feel they’ve missed a trick, for example in the reflections of the third movement, where cellist Alban Gerhardt and pianist Steven Osborne plumb greater depths. For the most part, though, this latest release leaves few notes unexamined.

That’s just as true of the smaller-scale works, in which Weilerstein and Barnatan reject received ideas. In Rachmaninov’s ‘Vocalise’ they avoid the predictable swellings that can reduce this piece to a hackneyed stocking-filler. In Auguste Franchomme’s arrangement of Chopin’s C sharp minor Etude they eschew over-indulgence in favour of honest simplicity. And in their hands Chopin’s Polonaise brillante sounds both poised and soulful, not just a piece of ‘glitter for the drawing room’, as its composer self-deprecatingly dismissed it.

-- Hannah Nepil, Gramophone

More reviews:
BBC Music Magazine  PERFORMANCE: ***** / RECORDING: *****
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2016/Jan/Rachmaninov_cello_4788416.htm
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/oct/29/rachmaninov-chopin-sonatas-cd-review-cello-piano-concerto-no-2-chopin
http://www.audaud.com/rachmaninov-cello-sonata-in-g-minor-op-19-vocalise-op-34-no-14-ed-wallfisch-chopin-cello-sonata-in-g-minor-op-65-etude-in-c-sharp-minor-intro-and-polonaise-brillante-in-c-major-alis/
https://www.allmusic.com/album/rachmaninov-chopin-cello-sonatas-mw0002868042
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chopin-Rachmaninov-Cello-Sonatas-Weilerstein/dp/B013BXEYPO
https://www.amazon.com/Chopin-Rachmaninov-Cello-Sonatas-Weilerstein/dp/B013BXEYPO

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Sergei Rachmaninov (1 April [O.S. 20 March] 1873 – 28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. He is widely considered as one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music. Some of his works are among the most popular in the romantic repertoire. His style is notable for its song-like melodicism, expressiveness and his use of rich orchestral colors. The piano is featured prominently in Rachmaninoff's compositional output, and through his own skills as a performer he explored the expressive possibilities of the instrument.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Rachmaninoff

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Frédéric Chopin (22 February or 1 March 1810 – 17 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic era who wrote primarily for the solo piano. He gained and has maintained renown worldwide as one of the leading musicians of his era. Chopin's music, his status as one of music's earliest superstars, his association with political insurrection, his love life and his early death have made him a leading symbol of the Romantic era in the public consciousness. His works remain popular, and he has been the subject of numerous films and biographies of varying degrees of historical accuracy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric_Chopin

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Alisa Weilerstein (born April 14, 1982 in Rochester, New York) is an American classical cellist. She studied with Richard Weiss at the Cleveland Institute of Music. As a soloist, Weilerstein has performed with many major orchestras on four continents. She also is active in chamber music and performs with her parents, violinist Donald Weilerstein and pianist Vivian Hornik Weilerstein, as the Weilerstein Trio. A champion of contemporary music, Weilerstein has worked extensively with composers Osvaldo Golijov and Lera Auerbach, as well as with Philadelphia composer Joseph Hallman. She plays a 1790 William Forster Cello.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alisa_Weilerstein

http://alisaweilerstein.com/

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