Debussy: Cello Sonata

“Grimaud produces a context of almost orchestral depth and spaciousness into which Gabetta projects her eloquently refined lines...Debussy's riveting Sonata benefits from Grimaud's subtle palette of timbres, and the cellist's willingness to let her sound ring free....[for the Shostakovich] Gabetta finds her vicious streak, with thrilling results in the finale.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2013 ***

“Gabetta plays the Schumann Drei Fantasiestücke and Brahms Sonata No 1 mellifluously, without revealing much beneath the surface. Grimaud is ever-attentive, but there’s little sense of two personalities striking sparks.” Financial Times, 3rd November 2012 ****

“There is a lightness to all the performances that creates an engagingly lyrical sound that is pleasurable to listen to...That this disc falls down a little by way of its great delicacy and slight tentativeness...would not be in any way a criticism to most musical collaborations. That it is to Grimaud and Gabetta is simply testament to their potential as a truly incendiary collaboration.” Gramophone Magazine, January 2013

“their quixotic musical personalities do match; there's a lightness of touch and an element of spontaneityin Gabetta's playing that corresponds to the impulsive aspects of Grimaud's pianism...You wouldn't always want Brahms like this, but it's still worthwhile.” The Guardian, 29th November 2012 ****

“the duo's playful work on Schumann's “Drei Fantasiestücke” bears out both Grimaud's assessment and the pair's shared sensibilities. Brahms' Sonata for Piano and Cello No.1 in E minor, though possessed of more gravitas, is more lightly dealt with than I've heard before, while they bring a questing spirit to Debussy's Sonata for Cello and Piano in D minor” The Independent, 13th October 2012 ***

“Vividly captured in a warm acoustic, Queyras and Tharaud's is an intimate approach which exactly suits the two short sonatas of Debussy and Poulenc, the former with its abrupt changes of direction and unpredictable mood swings, the latter brimful of Poulencian wit and, not surprisingly as it was sketched in 1940 (completed in 1948), replete with some self-plagiarising from Babar.
These are fine accounts, the programme made even more attractive by the inclusion of the seven short movements of Poulenc's Suite française (1935) based on 16th-century dances by Claude Gervaise. It's a charmer. Apart from this, there are five other short works by the two composers making a truly delightful whole.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“This generous collection of three favourite works provides a fine portrait of the great French cellist Paul Tortelier at the height of his career in the post-war period. It is specially valuable to have his view of the Elgar Cello Concerto, which he recorded commercially at least three times. Here it comes in a live recording which gives an even warmer, more spontaneoussounding view of the piece in his distinctive interpretation.
Tortelier strongly believed that Elgar's markings should not be exaggerated, in particular the marking tenuto, at which many interpreters bring the music practically to a halt. In the second- movement Scherzo, for example, the drawing out of the tempo in two key places is markedly less here than in most rival readings.
Tortelier also felt that the portamento slides should be kept to a minimum in the first movement, something he was able to achieve thanks to his very large hands. Even so, there is no lack of warmth in the dedicated slow movement or the meditative epilogue, which are given their full emotional weight.
The performance of Brahms's Double Concerto has similar qualities, and is important too for demonstrating what a fine violinist Tortelier's son Yan Pascal is. The bright purity of his violin tone contrasts illuminatingly with the richness of his father's cello tone.
The performance of the Debussy Sonata dates from much earlier, a 1959 studio recording, which yet brings out the natural spontaneity with which Tortelier tackled this improvisational work with its many stops and starts.
Recording quality is generally good, though in the Elgar the audience is irritatingly bronchial at times.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“…a fine portrait of the great French cellist Paul Tortelier at the height of his career…[His]personality is stamped on every bar of these live performances...It is specially valuable to have his view of the Elgar Cello Concerto…in a live recording which gives an even warmer, more spontaneous-sounding view of the piece in his distinctive interpretation.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2008

“On every count this is a triumphant record ... it offers us Rostropovich's own superb playing ... admirably partnered by Britten (who shows himself an outstanding chamber music pianist by any standards)... a splendid performance of the Debussy Sonata ... technically too, the recording is impeccable ... The Schumann - a slight work which, in other hands, can be rather humdrum - gives us the opportunity of admiring the cellist's ravishing cantabile and his finesse of rubato and of tonal gradation... the Debussy is notable for its sensitivity, fluidity and fantasy, and for the remarkable rapport which evidently exists between these two artists: the finale in particular drew forth a spontaneous cry of "Bravo!" from me... "supremely beautiful playing from both cellist and pianist, with never a dead note in even the most incidental bit of figuration [Schubert] ... the engineering is superb: the sound is glorious, and so true to life that if you shut your eyes you can imagine the players in your own room.” Gramophone Magazine

“The classics version [of the Debussy] by Rostropovich and Britten has a clarity and point which suit the music perfectly. The recording is first class” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition

“Some might find the medium-paced, relatively wide vibrato of flutist Doriot Anthony Dwyer mildly distracting, but these 1970s performances are as expertly played as they are beguiling engineered.” BBC Music Magazine, April 2007 ***