Schubert: Sonata for Arpeggione (bowed guitar) & Piano, d.821 / Schumann: 5 Pieces in the Popular Style (Volkston), Op. 102 / Debussy: Cello Sonata

Schubert: Sonata for Arpeggione (bowed guitar) & Piano, d.821 / Schumann: 5 Pieces in the Popular Style (Volkston), Op. 102 / Debussy: Cello Sonata

Schubert: Sonata for Arpeggione (bowed guitar) & Piano, d.821 / Schumann: 5 Pieces in the Popular Style (Volkston), Op. 102 / Debussy: Cello Sonata
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Brand: ROSTROPOVICH/BRITTEN
Composer: Robert Schumann
Composer: Claude Debussy
Composer: Franz Schubert
Performer: Mstislav Rostropovich
Performer: Benjamin Britten
Edition: Music CD
Format: Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 1999-08-10
Music Label: Decca
Soundtracks:
  1. Sonata For Arpeggione And Piano, D821: I. Allegro moderato
  2. Sonata For Arpeggione And Piano, D821: II. Adagio
  3. Sonata For Arpeggione And Piano, D821: III. Allegretto
  4. Funf Stucke im Volkston, Op. 102: I. Mit Humor
  5. Funf Stucke im Volkston, Op. 102: II. Langsam
  6. Funf Stucke im Volkston, Op. 102: III. Nicht schnell
  7. Funf Stucke im Volkston, Op. 102: IV. Nicht zu rasch
  8. Funf Stucke im Volkston, Op. 102: V. Stark und markiert
  9. Sonata For Cello And Piano: I. Prologue
  10. Sonata For Cello And Piano: II. Serenade
  11. Sonata For Cello And Piano: III. Finale

Music reviews of Schubert: Sonata for Arpeggione (bowed guitar) & Piano, d.821 / Schumann: 5 Pieces in the Popular Style (Volkston), Op. 102 / Debussy: Cello Sonata

Music Review: magisterial recordings from 1968 and 1961
Rating: 5 Stars

These are indeed magisterial readings, actually dating from 1961 (Schumann and Debussy) and 1968 (Schubert), in superb transfers. The front cover of this Decca Legends CD reissue is a little misleading about these dates, but the inside pages are clear and awesomely complete about this info and more on the technical processes, with the welcome bonus of reproductions of the two original LP covers from which these three pieces are culled.

They are ample, highly-charged romantic readings, leisurely in tempo, hightlighting the brooding wistfulness of Schubert's sonata rather than its youthful geniality, with warm, lyrical, indeed vocal tone and a wealth of nuances from the cellist, magnificent attention to dynamics and articulation from the pianist and superb listening of each other. How can anyone hearing this call the arpeggione sonata a "minor" work eludes me. The same values are applied to the Debussy sonata, resulting in a highly original and convincing interpretation, far removed from the relative dryness that characterized the French tradition of interpretation of that piece (witness Maréchal and Casadesus 1946 recording, reissued by Sony in their complete Casadesus collection). Ample, brooding, profound, harrowing, conjuring an enigmatic sound-world, with the second movement cello pizzicatos explosive like a menacing jazz double-bass: at their hands the sonata sounds like a meditation on approaching death (this was indeed one of Debussy's last compositions) - almost like a composition of Britten, one is tempted to say, and it is hard to imagine it played otherwise after that experience.

Decca's reissue poses a tricky problem of coupling and duplication, though. The Debussy and Schumann originally came on an LP with Britten's cello/piano sonata, and the Schubert was initially paired with Frank Bridge's cello/piano sonata. Now Decca has aptly reissued the Britten in an homogeneous coupling with the composer's two first solo cello suites, performed again by Rostropovich, an indispensable disc for any Britten and/or Rostropovich admirer - or just music lover (Cello Suites). But the Bridge they have reissued on CD again with the Schubert, as in the original LP - an understandable choice if not very generous in terms of timing (52'), but one that imposes on the record buyer an irksome duplication with the present disc (Schubert: Sonata for Arpeggione and Piano; Bridge: Sonata for Cello and Piano).

Bridge was Britten's teacher, so the latter's advocacy of his music is perhaps understandable, yet the cello sonata sounds to me like a broodingly romantic but ultiately impersonal and dull affair, and if forced to chose I would rather be with Schubert-Schumann-Debussy (more favorable in timing too, with 59') than with Schubert-Bridge. However, if like I do you consider that anything recorded by Britten and Rostropovich is of significance, Decca has reissued the Bridge sonata in one of their "British Music Collection" (470-189-2), paired - not very generously in terms of timing (57') - with 3 tone poems recorded in 1996 by the Academy of Saint-Martin in the Fields led by Neville Marriner (originally published in a collection called English Seasons, with tone poems by Bax, Delius, Foulds and Grainger), plus a short song by Kathleen Ferrier. It seems available only from Amazon.uk, though.

Anyway - yes, this Schubert-Schumann-Debussy is indeed of legendary stature.
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Description of Schubert: Sonata for Arpeggione (bowed guitar) & Piano, d.821 / Schumann: 5 Pieces in the Popular Style (Volkston), Op. 102 / Debussy: Cello Sonata

No Description Available.
Genre: Classical Music
Media Format: Compact Disk
Rating:
Release Date: 10-AUG-1999

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