Shchedrin Cello Sonata; Ancient Melodies of Russian Folk Song
A raft of Russianness featuring the composer as performer
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Rodion Konstantinovich Shchedrin
Genre:
Chamber
Label: Nimbus
Magazine Review Date: 1/2009
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 0
Catalogue Number: NI5831
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
(The) Ancient Melodies of Russian Folk-Songs |
Rodion Konstantinovich Shchedrin, Composer
Raphael Wallfisch, Cello Rodion Konstantinovich Shchedrin, Composer Rodion Shchedrin, Piano |
Sonata for Cello and Piano |
Rodion Konstantinovich Shchedrin, Composer
Raphael Wallfisch, Cello Rodion Konstantinovich Shchedrin, Composer Rodion Shchedrin, Piano |
À la Albéniz |
Rodion Konstantinovich Shchedrin, Composer
Raphael Wallfisch, Cello Rodion Konstantinovich Shchedrin, Composer Rodion Shchedrin, Piano |
Not Love Alone, Movement: Quadrille |
Rodion Konstantinovich Shchedrin, Composer
Raphael Wallfisch, Cello Rodion Konstantinovich Shchedrin, Composer Rodion Shchedrin, Piano |
Author: David Gutman
The bigger-boned Cello Sonata (1996) was written for Rostropovich, the recipient of several major compositions by Shchedrin following the collapse of Communism. Although Wallfisch’s technique is sometimes taxed by high-lying declamation, he is an ardent exponent of an idiom not unlike that of late Shostakovich but also reflecting Shchedrin’s immersion in the world of Bach, his fascination with bell-like sonorities and his abiding fondness for the grotesque. The piece ends in mid-air.
The makeweights are more immediately attractive. In the Style of Albéniz, a pop originally for piano, evokes Shchedrin as a post-Prokofievian prankster, cutting a dash in the staid world of Soviet music-making. Likewise the “Quadrille” from the opera Not Love Alone, an arrangement in which the soloist’s romantic aspiration is soon subverted by a parade of folkish material. Early Stravinsky may spring to mind, yet the younger Shchedrin achieved the sound in his own way, deploying the chastushka, a rigidly structured limerick-like popular song form, sometimes bawdy, sometimes satirical. The sound recording is truthful, and there are helpful notes by Calum MacDonald.
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