Customer Reviews

Music for Cello & Piano 1

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Reviewers of other Kliegel CDs have marveled at her virtuosity and sensitivity. I certainly agree with that. She is, in my mind, one of the most exciting cellists to come along since Rostropovich; budget label Naxos is to be praised for nabbing her before her career became too big for them to be able to afford her. This issue is labeled 'Volume I,' so I assume she will be recording all the music Beethoven wrote for cello and piano.

For the past couple of years my favorite collection of this music has been that recorded by David Finckel, cellist of the Emerson Quartet, and pianist Wu Han (a fabulous pianist and Finckel's wife)... Their playing tends to have smoother edges - more legato, less propulsion - than in this issue.

This CD includes the two Op. 5 sonatas, the Op. 17 horn sonata (which is arranged for cello and piano), and the Variations on 'Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen' (taken from Mozart's The Magic Flute). These are early works and in spirit are generally similar to the Op. 18 string quartets or the early piano sonatas--more classical that the music to come; still there is more than a hint of the tempestuous Beethoven of later works.

Kliegel's partner in this recording is pianist Nina Tichman, a American on the faculty of a German conservatory. She is a fastidious, musical and exciting pianist, and fully the equal of Ms Kliegel.

This is an outstanding release and I look forward to its successors.

Beethoven's cello sonatas are represented well in some excellent recordings-Kempff&Fournier are splendid,so are Richter and Rostropovich.These are the top choices.This performance by Tichman and Kliegel are quite good but not in the same league.It was Arthur Schnabel who said that where he differs from most other pianists is not in playing the notes but in the interval between the Notes!This is what comes to mind in listening to the excellent Richter and Rostropovich recordings.There is a greater sense of cohesion and Drama heightened by Zippy runs and slowing downs without seeming to wait for each other!This is not the case here.Just straightforward playing.I feel however this is better than the Argerich Maisky recording,where Argerich completely dominates the proceedings leaving Maisky struggling!However if you do have the Kempff-Fournier or Richter-Rostropovich recordings(There is an excellent DVD of this pair)you need not go for this set.

Although I haven't had a chance to obtain this disc yet, I plan to do so. The November, 2002, issue of BBC Music Magazine named this disc its "Pick of the Month" in the Chamber Music category and gave it a rare 5 stars in both the "Performance" and "Sound" categories. Should be a terrific disc, and the price is certainly right!