Coincidence strikes again: not only does this Montaigne release follow hard on the heels of Truls Mork’s Virgin Classics recording of the three Britten suites, but the insert notes are by the same writer (the French Britten specialist Xavier de Gaulle) and demonstrate considerable similarities (though the translators are different). The obvious question follows: do the performances demonstrate considerable similarities? Given the characters and track-records of these two players, the unsurprising answer is: ‘on the whole, no’.
Upheavals at Montaigne probably account for the fact that Rohan de Saram’s recital is being issued five years after the recording was made. Technically, it matches the best of the competition, and although its close miking can’t conceal the occasional incidental noises which inevitably occur in contact between player and instrument, these are not likely to distract you from the supremely characterful playing.
Those to whom de Saram is best known as the long-serving cellist of the avant-garde-favouring Arditti Quartet might suspect an underlying lack of sympathy with Britten’s relatively unprogressive music; indeed the opening movement of the First Suite strikes in a little brusquely in comparison with the more expansive (not to say improvisatory) romanticism of Mork. Nevertheless, de Saram quickly establishes the legitimacy of his own response, not least through scrupulous attention to matters of dynamic gradation and tone colour. Though there is too little genuinely soft playing in the Second Suite’s ‘Fugue’, and some details in the Third Suite exaggerate the role of contrast in this intensely integrated music, de Saram’s interpretation has a distinctive character and a powerful dramatic impact. This medium-price alternative to Jean-Guihen Queyras (budget price) and Robert Cohen (full price) is definitely worth considering. There are musical insights here which you will not find elsewhere