Composer: Benjamin Britten, Sergey Prokofiev, Dmitri Shostakovich
Performer: Daniel Müller-Schott, Francesco Piemontesi
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Orfeo
Catalogue: C872151
Release: 2015
Size: 269 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
Prokofiev: Cello Sonata in C major, Op. 119
01. I. Andante grave
02. II. Moderato
03. III. Allegro ma non troppo
Britten: Sonata for cello and piano in C major, Op. 65
04. I. Dialogo
05. II. Scherzo-pizzicato
06. III. Elegia
07. IV. Marcia
08. V. Moto Perpetuo
Shostakovich: Cello Sonata in D minor, Op. 40
09. I. Allegro non troppo
10. II. Allegro
11. III. Largo
12. IV. Allegro
This new CD from Daniel Müller-Schott and Francesco Piemontesi offers three sonatas for cello and piano in compelling, emotional performances.
The songlike Sonata in C major, composed in 1949 makes evident Prokofiev’s adjustment to the cultural politics of the Soviet Union to which he had returned just twelve years previously. It was also expressly written for an exceptional cello-piano duo, Rostropovich and Richter gave its first performance, and Müller-Schott and Piemontesi are their worthy successors here.
Dmitri Shostakovich’s Sonata is no less marked by fate. It was on the programme of a concert tour given by the composer, and his cello partner Viktor Kubatsky, in 1936, when Shostakovich was put on the Stalinist index of undesirables, on orders from the very top. This was a tragic irony of fate because this Cello Sonata is highly melodic and anything but modernist in its design, giving lie to the accusation that its composer wrote “chaos instead of music”. Daniel Müller-Schott and Francesco Piemontesi do full justice to all facets of this work – now catchy and playful, now pensive instead.
And finally, Benjamin Britten’s Sonata marked the beginning of a productive creative friendship that was established despite many a problem posed by the Cold War. It was first performed in Aldeburgh in 1961 by the composer and Rostropovich. The five movements of this Sonata are marked by typically Brittenesque twists and turns – at times hesitant, at other times effervescent and skittish, and towards the close ever more lively and unruly in its rhythms. This Sonata offers Daniel Müller-Schott and Francesco Piemontesi ample opportunity to unfold to the full both their technical expertise and their expressive art of interpretation.