SACDs - Tcherepnin

The famous Russian pianist-composer, who became an American citizen in 1958, was as well known in 1930s Paris as Stravinsky and heir to a number of Slav cultures in Europe and Asia. In the course of long visits, he also analysed the music of the Far East (China, Japan, Korea...), endeavouring to find a common language in the various folklores he discovered. Myriad one-page blochki ('little fleas') as well as 6 piano concertos, 4 symphonies, 3 operas, cantatas, choruses, songs, etc. offer up a surprising literature, and for cello and keyboard, a vivid, virtuosic repertoire, authenticated by its folk sources.

In the midst of war and state-sponsored terror, one thing in Prokofiev’s life retained its priceless value: friendship. It was for his good friend, Mstislav Rostropovich, that he composed the Sonata for cello and piano, op. 119, and the Sinfonia Concertante, op. 125.

(…) ‘The attraction for cellists lies in the phenomenal technical challenge, the lyrical intensity and the many different roles the soloist, as the main character in this epic, has to play. A great fighting spirit is asked for. If things go well and the dragon is down at the end, the satisfaction is enormous. Besides, who wouldn’t want to be Slava for forty minutes? The presence and inspiration of the big man is all over the piece. (…)

(… ) For this live recording, to have the support of Vassily Sinaisky and this orchestra, that has a decade of Gergiev behind it, was a tremendous privilege. They were exciting days. The choice for the two solo encores, Tcherepnin and Crumb was made to give two examples on a totally different scale from the same early postwar years in which the Concertante was written. The Tcherepnin particularly, is almost on a miniaturist scale.’ (…)

Pieter Wispelwey (from liner notes)