By WH99400
21-Oct-2010

Sweeping Sounds  

This recording consists of three pieces for Cello and Piano – Frank Bridge’s Sonata in D Minor, H125, Benjamin Britten’s Sonata in C, Op. 65, and Arnold Bax’s Legend-Sonata. The cello, played by Johannes Moser, is extremely evocative and grabs the listener from the get-go in the Bridge Sonata. The piano, played by Paul Rivinius, provides wonderful emotional accompaniment, giving us gentle melodies that glide up and down the keyboard, while at the same time providing a solid musical basis for the conversation taking place between the two. The piece as a whole is somewhat suggestive of Maurice Ravel’s chamber pieces, with similar ebbs and flows and a comprehensive sense of the two instruments (i.e. characters) belonging together at that particular point in time.

The Benjamin Britten Sonata is a journey, ranging from playful to stark and agitated, although in typical Britten style and therefore perhaps off-putting to the listener not expecting such clustered phrases. The Elegio Lento movement is, however, a somber thing of beauty and a real feast for this listener’s ears.

Finally, Arnold Bax’s Legend-Sonata is a piece that certainly contains tension between the two instruments in the very first movement (Allegro risoluto), but this tension is very humanly resolved between the two near the end of the movement in a soundscape of acceptance. The second movement (Lento espressivo) is played with a warm and understanding feel, both supporting each other as they go through their respective emotional states, each feeling a part of the other as the music swirls between the two. The last movement (Rondo allegro) provides a fitting and satisfying close to the piece, conveying a sense of continuing life journey in an impressionistic Debussy-like way.

This is a disc with a well thought-out program. Most enjoyable.
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