LE CD REVIEWS 2013 (No German)

International Classical Artists

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REVIEW

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Cathy Carson International Classical Artists T: +44 (0)20 7539 2633 (direct)

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REVIEW

Leonard Elschenbroich - cello

Shostakovich & Rachmaninov

Elschenbroich/Grynyuk (Onyx)

David Mellor

18 May 2013

The New Releases Show with David Mellor

Connoisseur’s Choice

Shostakovich & Rachmaninov Leonard Elschenbroich/ Alexei Grynyuk Onyx ONYX 4116 David’s verdict: “I find it very satisfying. A very interesting interpretation of all this music from cellist Leonard Elschenbroich – a name we’re going to hear much more of.”

Contact Cathy Carson

International Classical Artists T: +44 (0)20 7539 2633 (direct)





REVIEW



REVIEW






REVIEW

Leonard Elschenbroich – cello







REVIEW

Leonard Elschenbroich (violoncello) and Alexei Grynyuk (piano) Sergei Rachmaninov (1873 - 1943) - Cello sonata in G minor, op. 29 [36.18] Dmitri Shostakovich (1906 - 1975) - Viola sonata op. 147 [33.18] Sergei Rachmaninov (1873 - 1943) - Vocalise op. 34, no. 14 [6.39] Recorded 24-26 November 2012, Potton Hall Suffolk ONYX 4116 1 CD [76.36] Review by Robert Hugill http://www.planethugill.com Twitter @RobertHugill

Rachmaninov's Cello Sonata opens with a Lento introduction before the mainAllegro moderato of the first movement. Elschenbroich plays the opening with a narrow, unfolding tone and a fine elegant line. In the main Allegro moderato he plays with a lovely singing tone, and his dialogue with Grynyuk's piano takes on a very poetic character. The performance is a relatively restrained one, but impulsive in nature with plenty of flexibility to the rubato and never self-indulgent. There are dramatic climaxes and quiet poetry, but this isn't a big Romantic performance and Elschenbroich's tone is fine grained rather than heavily vibrato laden. For the Allegro Scherzando Elschenbroich brings rather a dark edge to the scurrying passages, rather dramatic moments alternate with finely sung poetic ones. The Andante opens with a lovely romantic piano tune, finely and subtly played by Grynyuk. When Elschenbroich comes in, he too sings. There is again drama and poetry here, with heavy piano textures contrasting to the singing line of the cello, making the movement powerfully evocative. For the final Allegro mosso we have technical virtuosity and brilliant freedom with a nicely impulsive performance from both cello and piano. The material here evokes memories of the piano concertos. Throughout the work both Elschenbroich and Grynyuk indulge in fine, poetic dialogue, forming a real partnership. They continue, albeit in a highly different vein, in Shostakovich's Viola Sonata, This late work includes quotations from Shostakovich's own music, the Berg Violin Concerto and, most notably, Beethoven's Moonlight sonata in the last movement. The opening Moderato is intense, melancholy and very dark. Textures are sparse (throughout the work Shostakovich uses one or two part textures for the piano a lot of the time). This is a deadly darkly serious movement with not trace of the sardonic humour often found in Shostakovich. The spare textures simply evaporate into nothing at the end. The Allegretto is scherzo like, but very edgy and brittle, not at all fun. Elschenbroich makes the solo part pointed but still low key. The concluding section, with its feeling of instability, has some lovely high playing from the cello. I am aware that, by playing the piece on the cello even if at pitch, we get a more present, less veiled tone than if it had been on the viol, but Elschenbroich makes a brilliant case for this incarnation of the work. The last movement opens with an unaccompanied cantilena from the cello, then it develops into a curious, haunting meditation on Beethoven's Moonlight sonata with the piano echoing Beethoven, the cello singing over the top. After something of a cadenza, other material returns for the uneasy conclusion. A masterly performance of a troubling work. Throughout this review, I have referred to Elschenbroich's singing tone and poetry of his playing, so it is very apt that he and Grynyuk conclude with Leonard Rose's adaptation of Rachmaninov's Vocalise in a magical performance. This is a masterly disc from two talented young artists, who show us that they can not only sing, but take us to some very dark places indeed. Robert Hugill http://www.planethugill.com Twitter @RobertHugill

http://www.planethugill.com/



REVIEW


Onyx CD release with Alexei Grynyuk (piano) – Rachmaninov, Shostakovich

Elschenbroich/Grynyuk (Onyx)

April 2013

5*

This is an exceptional set of performances by German cellist Leonard Elschenbroich and Kiev-born pianist Alexei Grynyuk, in which the sheer poise and eloquence of Rachmaninov’s expansive Cello Sonata is chillingly offset by the dry pallor of Shostakovich’s Viola Concerto, his last work seamlessly arranged for cello by Daniil Shafran.

Where there is supreme beauty in the Rachmaninov – the darkened brilliance of the Allegro scherzando, and an Andante every bit as ravishing as that of the Second Piano Concerto – there is a curt austerity in the Shostakovich, all of which this duo articulate with complete conviction.

Rachmaninov’s deliciously mellifluous Vocalise provides a warm and cosy ending to a seriously good disc. Ken Walton







REVIEW


Rachmaninov and Shostakovich

Young German cellist Leonard Elschebroich is a fast-rising star, and with good reason, says Jessica Duchen as she listens to these wonderfully three-dimensional performances.

Label: Onyx Classics

Rating *****

It’s hard to imagine two Russian sonatas more different than Rachmaninov’s for cello and piano and Shostakovich’s for viola and piano (here in an arrangement by the late great cellist Daniil Shafran). The Rachmaninov is – to the surprise of some who consider him primarily a composer of piano music – one of the composer’s most magnificent creations, contemporaneous with his Second Piano Concerto and Suite No.2. The cello, with its enormous expressive range, proves the perfect vehicle for his melodic sensibility, while the piano part is nearly as demanding as the soloist’s role in his concertos. Shostakovich’s Viola Sonata is, likewise, a masterpiece – but there the similarity ends, for this tortured and devastating piece (with its ironic references to Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight’ Sonata) was written when the composer was on his deathbed and seems to reflect the agony not only of disease but of the spiritual toll that the composer’s dilemmas in Soviet Russia had taken upon him.

Wonderfully rich, colourful and spiritually faithful interpretations

The young German cellist Leonard Elschenbroich, a fast-rising star, is one of the BBC’s New Generation Artists at present – and this CD proves that that’s with good reason. Together with the excellent Alexei Grynyuk, Elschenbroich proves his range of expression more than equal to their demands at both ends of the emotional spectrum – from Rachmaninov’s generous and life-affirming passion to the chill of Shostakovich’s deathly hallows. Both musicians give a complete arsenal of apparently faultless technique to the creation of wonderfully rich, colourful and spiritually faithful interpretations. The Rachmaninov Vocalise serves as a well-chosen encore. Jessica Duchen http://sinfinimusic.com/uk/reviews/2013/04/leonard-elschenbroich-recital/

Contact: Cathy Carson


M: +44 (0 +44 75381 79065 [email protected]

http://sinfinimusic.com/uk/reviews/2013/04/leonard-elschenbroich-recital/




REVIEW


Shostakovich/Shafran: Viola Sonata; Rachmaninov: Cello Sonata – review

Elschenbroich/Grynyuk

(Onyx)

***** Tim Ashley, Thursday 9 May 2013

"The most tragic work I know," is how cellist Leonard Elschenbroich describes Shostakovich's Viola Sonata, his harrowing last composition, completed in 1975. The piece was originally planned, however, as a cello sonata for Mstislav Rostropovich, then exiled from the USSR; just before his death, Shostakovich asked cellist Daniil Shafran to prepare a version for the lower instrument. It's Shafran's version that Elschenbroich gives us here in a performance of tremendous assurance and power. You could argue that the cello's warmth adds a touch of lyricism that detracts from the sparseness of the original. But there's no mistaking the intensity and commitment that Elschenbroich and pianist Alexei Grynyuk bring to it, and the closing pages, which look unflinchingly towards extinction, are unnerving in the extreme.

Its companion piece, radically different, is Rachmaninov's Cello Sonata, in which Grynyuk's energy and Elschenbroich's sense of poetry are joyously to the fore.

Exceptional.







REVIEW




T: +44 (0)20 7539 2633 (direct) M: +44 (0 +44 75381 79065 E: [email protected]



Onyx CD release with Alexei Grynkuk (piano) – Rachmaninov, Shostakovich

5*

THIS is an exceptional set of performances by German cellist Leonard Elschenbroich and Kiev-born pianist Alexei Grynyuk, in which the sheer poise and eloquence of Rachmaninov’s expansive Cello Sonata is chillingly offset by the dry pallor of Shostakovich’s Viola Concerto, his last work seamlessly arranged for cello by Daniil Shafran.

Where there is supreme beauty in the Rachmaninov – the darkened brilliance of the Allegro scherzando, and an Andante every bit as ravishing as that of the Second Piano Concerto – there is a curt austerity in the Shostakovich, all of which this duo articulate with complete conviction.

Rachmaninov’s deliciously mellifluous Vocalise provides a warm and cosy ending to a seriously good disc.

The Scotsman

By Ken Walton, April 2013

Entertainment & Humor

LE CD REVIEWS 2013 (No German)