CD and Other Review

Review: Shostakovich: Cello Concertos Nos 1 & 2 (Capuçon, Gergiev)

Shostakovich’s cello concertos, both written for legendary cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, swing from smouldering slow movements to flashes of manic, frenetic activity. This new recording from Erato pairs French cellist Gautier Capuçon with Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra in a recording that highlights the exquisite details of Shostakovich’s cello writing, taken from concerts in 2013 and 2014 in Paris and St Petersburg. This is Capuçon’s second recording with Gergiev and Mariinsky, having previously released a CD of Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev in 2010. Capuçon hits the spiky five-note motif that opens the First Concerto with restrained intensity. This personal motif, based on the initials of the composer’s name (DSCH), is repeated aggressively in various guises throughout the first movement, returning in the finale to give the concerto a cyclical framework. Capuçon’s tone in the Allegretto is liquid and velvet, but full of depth and crunch as he leans into the low double-stops. The Mariinsky’s strings are lushly dissonant as they introduce the second movement, Gergiev shaping them into flowing arcs before the creeping cello line enters. Capuçon’s glissandi sigh, his sound rich in the lower registers and smooth and glassy in the high. He harnesses space and silence in the cadenza…

February 11, 2016
CD and Other Review

Review: Sibelius: Symphonies (Berlin Philharmoniker/Rattle)

Editor’s Choice, Jan/Feb 2016 – Orchestral Nearly 30 years ago Simon Rattle recorded a cycle of the Sibelius symphonies in Birmingham and despite the adulation of some critics the set left others cold with their infuriating undercutting of brilliant insight with arch mannerisms. His textural clarity and bold delineation of dynamics that served him so well for Stravinsky was evident, but his tendency to prod and poke at phrasing and rhythms tended to pull the rug from under Sibelius’s carefully prepared climaxes. His latest readings bear similar traits, and while that implies a consistent point of view, he hasn’t yet convinced me, despite the glorious playing. Rehearing earlier accounts from Karajan, Kamu or Levine reminds one how different today’s Philharmoniker sounds from that of old; gone is the luxuriant plush sound with laser-like focus and bottomless reserves of tone. In its place is a lean transparency and limpid beauty of sound, but still with plenty of weight and malleable sonority. Sample the opening of the Third Symphony. It’s as cool and transparent as melt-water while the moments of hush have remarkable focus at a barely perceptible dynamic. Or… Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already…

February 9, 2016