Composer: Dmitri Shostakovich
Performer: Emmanuelle Bertrand, Pascal Amoyel
Orchestra: BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Conductor: Pascal Rophé
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Catalogue: HMC902142
Release: 2013
Size: 1.06 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Cello Concerto No. 1 in E flat major, Op. 107
01. I. Allegretto
02. II. Moderato
03. III. Cadenza (Attacca)
04. IV. Finale (Allegro con moto)
Cello Sonata in D minor, Op. 40
05. I. Allegro non troppo
06. II. Allegro
07. III. Largo
08. IV. Allegro
09. Moderato in A Minor for Cello and Piano, Op. 40a
Here are two masterpieces for cello by Shostakovich, written 25 years apart. The insolent Sonata Op.40 of 1934, contemporary with ‘Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District’: the opera soon to plunge its composer into disgrace with Stalin, was answered in 1959 by the bitter self-questioning of an artist who seemed to have sunk into depression. This Cello Concerto ends with a wicked caricature of true joy, adding the final touch to the extreme polymorphism of a traumatised humourist who had long since learned not to laugh…
A passionate devotee of chamber music and member of the ensemble Les Violoncelles Français, Emmanuelle Bertrand has appeared in duo repertoire with the pianist Pascal Amoyel since 1999. Her harmonia mundi recordings as a soloist or in tandem with Amoyel have all received the most prestigious critical accolades in France and abroad, including the Cannes Classical Award, Diapason d’Or of the Year, 10 de Répertoire-Classica, Choc de Classica, and ffff de Télérama.
In 2014 she will give the first performance of Thierry Escaïch’s Cello Concerto.