A belated thank you for your support, Antonio.

Thursday, July 19, 2018

Zoltán Kodály - Cello Sonata & other works (Natalie Clein; Julius Drake)


Information

Composer: Zoltán Kodály
  • (01-03) Sonata, Op. 8 for solo cello
  • (04)      Sonatina
  • (04-13) 9 Epigrams
  • (14)      Romance lyrique
  • (15)      Adagio

Natalie Clein, cello
Julius Drake, piano

Date: 2010
Label: Hyperion
https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA67829

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Review

Clein and Drake find great variety and colour in Kodály’s cello works

I can remember first hearing the Kodály Solo Sonata, nearly 50 years ago, and being amazed at its scope and at the composer’s extraordinary resourcefulness. Something of this sense of wonderment returned on listening to Natalie Clein’s account; she produces an astonishing range of colours and evokes the widest variety of expressive styles. I find it admirable, too, how she’s able, in the recording studio, to maintain so much of the excitement and directness of live performance. Music of this rhetorical character demands a fine sense of timing; Clein demonstrates this, and her air of conviction is sustained through the first movement’s intense declamation, the Adagio’s rich, low-range melodies, the finale’s dance rhythms and the eerily quiet “natural” sounds that punctuate the discourse. It must be said that Clein is more concerned with expression than beauty of tone in her effort to capture something of the roughness and raw edges of folk music.

The rest of the programme has a more refined character and Julius Drake’s expressive playing is a fine match for Clein’s outgoing manner. There’s a noble performance of the well known Adagio and a sensitive account, stressing its impressionistic features, of the 1922 Sonatina. The Epigrams of 1954, intended originally as vocalises, are delightful short pieces with only subtle hints of Kodály’s nationalistic style. These, too, are beautifully and simply played, with Clein keeping to the original vocal range, I imagine. A recording of great immediacy points up the variety of the programme, from the Sonata’s grandeur and vividness to the intimacy of the Epigrams.

-- Duncan Druce, Gramophone

More reviews:
BBC Music Magazine  PERFORMANCE: ***** / SOUND: *****
http://classicalsource.com/db_control/db_cd_review.php?id=8366
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/may/27/kodaly-natalie-clein-drake-cd-review
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classicalcdreviews/7854717/Kodaly-Sonata-Op-8-Sonatina-9-Epigrams-Romance-lyrique-Adagio.html
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/album-reviews/kod%C3%A1ly-sonata-for-solo-cello-sonata-9-epigrams-romance-lyrique-adagio-1.619750
https://www.amazon.com/Kodaly-Sonata-Adagio-Sonatina-Epigrams/dp/B003IEAMGC

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Zoltán Kodály (16 December 1882 in Kecskemét, Hungary – 6 March 1967 in Budapest) was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, pedagogue, linguist, and philosopher. He is best known internationally as the creator of the Kodály Method, which is widely taken up by pedagogues in Hungary and many other countries. His compositions blended Western-European style of music, including classical, late-romantic, impressionistic and modernist, with the knowledge and respect for the folk music of Hungary. Kodály and his compatriot Béla Bartók were lifelong friends, and champions of each other's music.

***

Natalie Clein (born 25 March 1977, Poole, Dorset) is a British classical cellist. She studied with Anna Shuttleworth and Alexander Baillie at the Royal College of Music, and with Heinrich Schiff in Vienna. Clein came to prominence after winning the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition in 1994. In 1999 she was invited as one of the first artists to join the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists scheme. Clein is keen recital and chamber performer and has curated a series of concerts for BBC Radio 3 at LSO St Luke’s. She has recorded for EMI Classics and Hyperion. Clein plays on the 1777 "Simpson" Guadagnini cello.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

FLAC, tracks
Links in comment
Enjoy!

3 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Please may I request a re-up? Many thanks

    ReplyDelete
  3. Choose one link, copy and paste it to your browser's address bar, wait a few seconds (you may need to click 'Continue' first), then click 'Skip Ad' (or 'Get link').
    If you are asked to download or install anything, IGNORE, only download from file hosting site (mega.nz).
    If MEGA shows 'Bandwidth Limit Exceeded' message, try to create a free account.

    http://maetrimal.com/1cVC
    or
    http://exe.io/c75VFy9r
    or
    http://uii.io/gnDR8N

    ReplyDelete