This well-recorded disc comes with a glowing testimonial from composer to cello soloist. There are also extensive, if poorly translated, notes by Ivashkin on the composer and the works included, and the clear sympathy and understanding which these reveal is translated into performances of notable distinction. Schnittke’s own enthusiasm is evidently justified.
As with many Schnittke discs, the music included is uneven in quality. The relatively early sonata is the longest piece, and despite Ivashkin’s well-judged refusal to allow emotional indulgence to interfere with clear projection of formal progress, that progress itself – becoming slower and slower as the music proceeds – is insufficient. What starts as a powerful presentation of a typical lamenting tonal motif loses impact as that motif fails to develop.
The trio of later, and shorter, solo cello works is much more impressive. Klingende Buchstaben – so called for its use of the musical letters of Schnittke’s and Ivashkin’s names – is the slightest, but the Kagan Madrigal (more familiar in its violin version) and the still more recent Improvisation – a competition test piece – are marvels of freely expressive yet cogently constructed composition. Alongside them the Five Aphorisms for piano sound rather routine. Maybe Schnittke was simply not very interested in writing for solo piano in 1991, and there is little that Tamas Vesmas can do to convince us otherwise. The disc is nevertheless well worth investigating for the solo cello pieces alone.'