Various Composers - 1948 (Laura van der Heijden; Petr Limonov)

Information

• Sergei Prokofiev - Cello Sonata in C Major, Op. 119
• Yuri Shaporin - Five Pieces for Cello and Piano, Op. 25
• Nikolai Myaskovsky - Cello Sonata No. 2 in A Minor, Op. 81
• Anatoly Lyadov - 3 Morceaux, Op. 11: I. Prelude in B Minor (arranged for cello and piano)

Laura van der Heijden, cello

Petr Limonov, piano

Date: 2018

Label: Champs Hill Records

https://www.champshillrecords.co.uk/55/1948-Russian-Works-For-Cello-And-Piano

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Review

Prokofiev’s Cello Sonata begins with a melody low on the C string, and no expression markings: just the instruction piena voce (full voice). So it’s hard to explain exactly why Laura van der Heijden makes it sound and feel quite so right. Perhaps it’s because she doesn’t strive for effect. Van der Heijden’s tone is handsome, and her vibrato opens out to inflect the top of the phrase before the line slips without fuss beneath the piano’s answering melody. There’s a naturalness about her approach, as well as a certain earnestness – at any rate, she sounds like she takes the piece seriously.

That’s particularly relevant to a disc inspired by Zhdanov’s January 1948 attacks on Soviet composers: Prokofiev’s sonata has sometimes been cited as proof of a declawed composer toeing the party line. That’s not how it comes across here. Van der Heijden and Limonov are eloquent, reflective and (in the outer sections of the second movement) playful. Compared to, say, Matt Haimovitz’s recent account (Pentatone, 12/17) it feels reserved; but it’s an interpretation that takes nothing for granted, pregnant with things unsaid. One to live with.

The rest of the programme is imaginative: Myaskovsky’s Second Sonata actually dates from 1948 but you wouldn’t guess, and van der Heijden pours out beautifully moulded lyricism by the yard before giving a real sting to the tail of the finale. She finds a tragic side, too, to the rather dour romanticism of Yuri Shaporin’s Five Pieces. Limonov is clearly on the same page throughout, though the recording gives the piano a slightly tinny, distant sound – more of an issue in the Prokofiev than the other pieces. Otherwise, a thought-provoking debut disc from an impressive and intelligent young cellist.

-- Richard Bratby, Gramophone

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Laura van der Heijden (born 7 April 1997 in West Sussex) is a British cellist. In 2005, she joined the junior department of the Royal College of Music, where she studied piano under Emily Jeffrey. She has been a pupil of Leonid Gorokhov since 2008. In 2019 Van der Heijden graduated from St John's College, Cambridge. She won the BBC Young Musician of the Year on 13 May 2012, where in the final round, she played William Walton's Cello Concerto with Kirill Karabits and the now Royal Northern Sinfonia. Van der Heijden currently plays on a late 17th Century cello made by Francesco Rugeri of Cremona.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_van_der_Heijden_(musician)

https://www.lauravanderheijden.uk/en

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Petr Limonov (born 16 June 1984 in Moscow) is a Russian-British pianist and conductor. He studied at the Moscow Central Music School, the Royal Academy of Music (London), the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris, and the Royal College of Music. His teachers include Hamish Milne, Dmitri Alexeev and Maria João Pires, among others. After winning First Prize at the Nikolai Rubinstein Competition in Paris, Limonov started giving concerts throughout Europe and Russia. He made his conducting début in 2013 at Cadogan Hall, London. Limonov has recorded for Decca, Onyx Classics, Chandos and Champs Hill labels.

https://www.petrlimonov.com/

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