ADAGIETTO
MISCHA MAISKY (Cello)
LILY MAISKY (Piano) et al
Deutsche Grammophon 483 5561 / ****1/2
This appears to be merely a
compilation album of slow encore pieces, but it comes from the great
Latvia-born cellist Mischa Maisky, renowned for his big warm tone and outsized personality
to match.
The titular track is his own arrangement of the Adagietto third
movement from Gustav Mahler’s Fifth Symphony for cello and harp (played
by Sophie Hallynck). Purists might balk at the use of multi-tracking, which
sounds like both players being backed by an ensemble of strings, but the effect
is magical.
Equally enjoyable are further
slow movements, all transcriptions, of music by Marcello (Oboe Concerto),
J.S.Bach (Keyboard Concerto BWV.1056), Tchaikovsky (piano pieces),
Massenet (Meditation from Thaïs), Grieg (Solveig’s Song),
Scriabin, Mozart and Saint-Saëns. In this family affair, he is accompanied by
pianist daughter Lily while violinist son Sascha joins them for Schubert’s
passionate Notturno in E flat major.
The last two tracks are live
performances involving star power. Maisky is partnered no less by pianist
Martha Argerich, violinist Janine Jansen and violist Julian Rachlin in the Andante
Cantabile of Schumann’s Piano Quartet. This and the Andante
from Brahms’ Third Piano Quartet have the cello wallowing in the big
melodies, and Maisky gratefully laps it all up.
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