CD Review (The Straits Times, November 2017)

SHOSTAKOVICH Violin Concerto No.1

  NICOLA BENEDETTI, Violin

  Bournemouth Symphony / Kirill Karabits

  Decca 478 8758 / ****1/2

SHOSTAKOVICH Cello Concertos

  ALISA WEILERSTEIN, Cello

  Bavarian Radio Symphony /

  Pablo Heras-Casado

  Decca 483 0835 / *****

The string concertos of Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) used to be the sacred preserve of venerable Russian soloists with a direct line to the composer himself, men like David Oistrakh and Mstislav Rostropovich who are sadly no longer with us. 

A new generation of young and glamourous artists have filled the void, including women like Viktoria Mullova, Midori, Sarah Chang and Hanna Chang. Now add British violinist Nicola Benedetti and American cellist Alisa Weilerstein to the list.  

Benedetti gives a deeply-felt reading of the First Violin Concerto (1947), without smoothing over the opening Nocturne's dark matter, and letting rip in the manic 2nd and 4^th movements. The finale's Burlesque with its wild Klezmer raves also scores with a direct and relentless attack. Her trademark sweetness of tone is reserved mostly for its coupling, Glazunov's Violin Concerto (1904), which comes from an earlier and more effable era of Russian music.

Weilerstein's performances of both cello concertos are high on dry wit and ironic humour. The more familiar First Cello Concerto (1959) also benefits from the excellent orchestral French horn soloist's outlandish interjections and whoops. 

The longer, darker and grimmer Second Cello Concerto (1966) deserves to be better known, and she pulls all the stops for an ultra-coherent performance. Insanity, levity and vulgarity have seldom found a more united front in these superb recordings.     

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, April 2016)

RACHMANINOV & CHOPIN

Cello Sonatas

ALISA WEILERSTEIN, Cello

INON BARNATAN, Piano

Decca 478 8416 / *****

Here are two cello sonatas written by composers whose main instrument was the piano, and both are coincidentally in the key of G minor. Rachmaninov's sonata (composed in 1901) is the better known, written at around the same time as his Second Piano Concerto and Second Suite for two pianos, which share a wealth of melody and luscious harmonies. 

Chopin's sonata (1847) was his last published work, filled with mellowness and a rich vein of lyricism. Both are in 4 movements, including achingly beautiful slow movements which have become hits in their own right.

American cellist Alisa Weilerstein coaxes a luxuriant and gorgeous tone, complemented by Israeli pianist Inon Barnatan's virtuosic yet sensitive partnership. The fill-ups are also well-chosen.  Rachmaninov's mellifluous Vocalise is soulfully rendered. 

A transcription by Auguste Franchomme (Chopin's close friend and favourite cellist) of the Etude in C sharp minor (Op.25 No.7), which sometimes carries the nickname “Cello”, seems like a natural choice. Finally, Chopin's early Introduction & Polonaise Brillante (Op.3) closes the recital in a blaze of fireworks. Here are 81 minutes of hugely enjoying listening.     

AN AMERICAN IN PARIS

TAMSIN WALEY-COHEN, Violin

HUW WATKINS, Piano

Champs Hill 059 / ****1/2  

The 1920s ushered in a new era of music in which European composers readily embraced the influence of music from the New World, namely African-American jazz. This interesting anthology by young British violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen explores both sides of the Atlantic, American composers making their mark in this home-grown musical language and French composers intoxicated by the blues and syncopated rhythms. 

The two main works are the Violin Sonatas of Francis Poulenc (1943) and Maurice Ravel (1927). Poulenc's bittersweet idiom was in this instance inspired by the murder of poet Federico Garcia Lorca during the Spanish Civil War, while Ravel's includes a toe-tapping Blues as its slow movement.

The Americans are represented by Charles Ives and George Gershwin. Ives' Decoration Day was a movement from his Holidays Symphony, where distant memories of old band tunes were being reheard through the prism of time. 

Six popular songs from Gershwin's Afro-American folk opera Porgy And Bess benefit from Jascha Heifetz's slick arrangements, and the rarity is Heifetz's last transcription, a 6-minute distillation of tunes from An American In Paris (and completed by his Indonesia-born assistant Ayke Agus), which seems all too short. The performances here are marked by an infectious vitality, and deserve repeated listening.

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, May 2015)

SCRIABIN Piano Concerto

MEDTNER Piano Concerto No.3

YEVGENY SUDBIN, Piano

Bergen Philharmonic / Andrew Litton

BIS 2088 / *****

This is a most apt coupling of piano concertos by two Russian pianist-composers who were contemporaries of Rachmaninov yet trailed him considerably in terms of popularity. Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915) was Rachmaninov's classmate and rival at the Moscow Conservatory. His Piano Concerto of 1896 was an early but transitional work, revealing Chopinesque influences yet gradually finding a voice of his own. It is in the finale, the longest movement, where his flight of fantasy finally takes wing with an impassioned climax that would please any Rachmaninov fan.

Nikolai Medtner (1880-1951) was a junior but close friend of Rachmaninov. His Third Piano Concerto (1940) is arguably the best of three he wrote. Cast in three movements played without a break, it exhibits a mastery of the sonata form but does not reveal its secrets on first acquaintance.   More Germanic than Russian, it nevertheless is imbued with the lush Romanticism and scintillating piano writing for which Rachmaninov was acclaimed.  

The young St Petersburg-born pianist Yevgeny Sudbin is a true successor of the great Russian pianists Dmitri Alexeev and Nikolai Demidenko, going one further having recorded all three Medtner concertos. His playing is incisive and brimming with vigour, matched by his own thoughtful programme notes. He quotes Horowitz who once asked, “Why nobody plays Medtner?” The answer is simple: Medtner’s music is often too difficult and cerebral to pull off convincingly. On those counts, Sudbin at least proves him wrong. 

SOLO

ALISA WEILERSTEIN, Cello

Decca 478 52962 / *****

Young American cellist Alisa Weilerstein's first solo album has an underlying theme based on folk music and dances from around the world. The Hungarian nationalist composer Zoltan Kodaly's Sonata Op.8 is the longest work at over a half hour, with three concentrated movements of impassioned laments and soul searching, typical of deep Slavic melancholy. She launches headlong into the music and does not flinch at its myriad complexities.

Hispanic fire lies at the heart of both contemporary Argentinian Osvaldo Golijov's Omaramor and Spaniard Gaspar Cassado's Suite. The former is a set of variations on Carlos Gardel's My Beloved Buenos Aires, with the melody revealed at the very end. The latter incorporates three dances, a Zaraband, the Sardana (a Catalan dance) and an infectious Jota to close.

Chinese-American Bright Sheng's Seven Tunes Heard In China was dedicated to and premiered by Yo-Yo Ma. Its short movements include the popular song Little Cabbage (Xiao Bai Cai) from Hebei, the onomatopoeic train song Diu Diu Dong from Taiwan and a Tibetan Dance. Weilerstein's outsized cello tones tempered by sensitivity and a variety of timbral colours is joy throughout this magnificent recital. Highly recommended.