Shostakovich • Kabalevsky • Prokofiev
Cello Sonatas and other works
Steven Isserlis vc, Olli Mustonen p
Hyperion CDA68239

Steven Isserlis and Olli Mustonen’s chamber music passions run the complete Soviet gamut

The Kabalevsky sonata is a fairly recent acquisition for us, but it’s one that Olli mustonen and I both love. We are so enthusiastic about it. it’s a fantastic piece and the music is fabulous. – Steven Isserlis

The first name you might think of on seeing the cover of this album is that of Rostropovich, for whom Shostakovich and Prokofiev composed some of their greatest music. But these works were created much earlier. It’s a tribute to Steven Isserlis and Olli Mustonen that it’s hard to imagine more thoughtful, well-prepared performances. Yet this is also playing in which everything is “in the moment”. Every vivid emotion – passion, anguish, hysteria, vivacity, despair – makes it mark. Mustonen brings a composer’s sensibility to his work, and...