Rebecca Clarke; Frank Bridge - Viola & Cello Sonatas (Natalie Clein; Christian Ihle Hadland)

Information

Composer: Rebecca Clarke; Frank Bridge; Ralph Vaughan Williams

• (01) Clarke - Viola Sonata (version for cello)
• (04) Bridge - Serenade, H23
• (05) Bridge - Spring Song, H104 No 2
• (06) Bridge - Scherzo, H19a
• (07) Bridge - Cello Sonata, H125
• (09) Vaughan Williams - Six Studies in English Folk Song

Natalie Clein, cello
Christian Ihle Hadland, piano

Date: 2019
Label: Hyperion
https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA68253

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Review

Hands up: I hadn’t realised that Rebecca Clarke had authorised a cello version of her much-recorded Viola Sonata, although it has in fact been recorded by at least two cellists. But still, I suspect that this beautifully produced recital from Natalie Clein and Christian Ihle Hadland will be many listeners’ first encounter with the cello version of this superb work, and I strongly suspect that they’ll be as impressed by it as I was.

The sonata reveals several new facets when played on the cello, the principal one being the new depth and physicality of the sound world. Clein makes the most of that, with a tonal palette that ranges from thick charcoal-black to muted pastels, beautifully controlled and shaped in the service of Clarke’s ardent musical narrative. The first movement is headed Impetuoso and throughout this disc Clein and Hadland never stint on commitment.

In the second movement of Bridge’s wartime Cello Sonata, for example, the transition from uneasy calm to jagged, angst-ridden turmoil and on to soaring, impassioned lyricism is handled with poetry and passion. Clein is never afraid to let you hear the rasp of bow on string, and Hadland, too, knows how to make a climax thrillingly sonorous without overwhelming his partner.

Around these two imposing central performances, the pair unerringly find the right atmosphere for each of the various miniatures by Vaughan Williams and Bridge; catching the wit of Bridge’s Scherzo and the lilt of his Serenade as well as the sense of lengthening shadows that lies behind all that melodic charm. The acoustic is lucid, natural and intimate: excellent booklet notes by Paul Hindmarsh and cover art by Eric Ravilious are simply the icing on the cake.

-- Richard Bratby, Gramophone

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2019/Jan/Bridge_cello_CDA68253.htm
http://www.classicalsource.com/db_control/db_cd_review.php?id=16064
https://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/reviews/clarke-%E2%80%A2-bridge-sonatas-for-cello-piano-natalie-clein-christian-ihle-hadland/
https://www.audaud.com/clarke-viola-sonata-bridge-cello-sonata-natalie-clein-christian-ihle-hadland-piano-hyperion/
https://www.allmusic.com/album/clarke-viola-sonata-bridge-cello-sonata-vaughan-williams-six-studies-in-english-folk-song-mw0003227069
https://www.amazon.com/Rebecca-Clarke-Bridge-Vaughan-Williams/dp/B07HN5LTW3

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Rebecca Clarke (27 August 1886 – 13 October 1979) was an English classical composer and violist best known for her chamber music featuring the viola. Clarke studied at the Royal Academy of Music and Royal College of Music in London, later becoming one of the first female professional orchestral players. Stranded in the US at the outbreak of World War II, she settled permanently in New York City. Although Clarke's output was not large, her work was recognised for its compositional skill and artistic power. Some of her works have yet to be published, while those that were published were largely forgotten.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_Clarke_(composer)

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Frank Bridge (26 February 1879 – 10 January 1941) was an English composer, violist and conductor. Bridge was born in Brighton and studied at the Royal College of Music in London from 1899 to 1903 under Charles Villiers Stanford and others. During the war and immediately afterwards Bridge wrote a number of pastoral and elegiac pieces, but after the war his language developed significantly, with more complex, larger works, and more advance harmonic elements and motivic working. As a teacher, Bridge is remembered for privately tutoring Benjamin Britten, who later championed his teacher's music.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Bridge

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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.

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

http://www.natalieclein.com/

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