Cello sonatas

"This winning Russian programme, one of high twentieth-century narrative, has everything going for it. Two charismatic artists at the top of their game relishing playing with and off each other. Two powerful Cello Sonatas. A frankly magnificent Steinway D. Demonstration production standards ... The sort of release that grips one's imagination right from the first seconds ... Players oddly bypass Kabalevsky's pre-Cuba crisis Cello Sonata, premiered by Rostropovich in Moscow in February 1962. They shouldn't ... In brilliant, hungry form, Isserlis and Olli Mustonen do it glorious justice, taking the music and us by the throat ... A triumph of a release. With so much passion and adrenalin, you can only wonder how players and crew must have felt at the end of sessions".

"Andrianov's performance of the Rachmaninov, however, could best be described as impatient. While the Shostakovich thrives on his ability to keep the tempo pushing forward and his use of an intense, piercing sound, the Rachmaninov suffers from it ... Listeners in the market for superior recording of Shostakovich have found it, but should purchase a different album to supplement this Rachmaninov".

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"Grossartigen, unbedingt hörenswerten Cellosonaten ... Eine gelungener Interpretation aller drei Werke ... Blendend aufeinander eingestellt, spielen die fabelhaften Johannes Moser und Paul Rivinius ebenso kühl-beherrscht wie intensiv".

"Selvom alle tre komponister levede i Sovjettiden, hvor kunst var underlagt rigide rammer, er dette album i særklasse et manifest for den frie tanke. Britiske Steven Isserlis og finske Olli Mustonen ... er begge romantikere i hjertet ... [De] benytter enhver lejlighed til at male dramaet op i musikken. Og det i en grad så det er oplagt at sende tanker til tidligere tiders cello og klaver-partnerskaber som Mstislav Rostropovitj og Sviatoslav Richter, samt Rostropovitj og Benjamin Britten, der også var i stand til at elektrificere et partitur".

"Isserlis and his long-term colleague Olli Mustonen make a compelling case for Kabalevsky's Cello Sonata, finding such expressive drama that for once I was not distracted by the Sonata's obvious cribs from Shostakovich and Debussy ... Isserlis and Mustonen are themselves extraordinary musicians, and both clearly believe in the music they are performing ... Most extraordinary of all is Kabalevsky's Rondo in memory of Prokofiev ... A sincere and truly great work in an outstanding performance".

"Alban Gerhardt und Steven Osborne sind ein blendend eingespieltes Duo, das allen technischen Problemen entwachsen ist ... Und doch fehlt etwas: der Mut und der unbedingte Wille, sich in und durch die Musik vorbehaltlos auszudrücken. Auf ihr makelloses Spiel fällt ein Schatten von Distanz".