Customer Reviews

Schubert: Sonata for Arpeggione (bowed guitar) & Piano, d.821 / Schumann: 5 Pieces in the Popular Style (Volkston), Op. 102 / Debussy: Cello Sonata

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This remastered 1968 Decca recording of the collaboration of cellist Mstislav Rostropovich and pianist Benjamin Britten is nothing less than a model of inspired chamber music performance. The most lovely part of the album is the duo's performance of the Schubert "Arpeggione" sonata. The simple work, often difficult to make interesting in performance because of its simplicity, shines like a rare gem due to the highly sensitive playing of Benjamin Britten. Added to this is Rostropovich's wonderfully song-like presentation of the composer's melodies.

While I find the duo's performance of the Schumann "Fuenf Stuecke im Volkston" to be somewhat stodgy, I have enjoyed becoming acquainted with the work through this recording. Although a bit dull, the music is still played with clear purpose and direction.

I originally bought this CD because I wanted to have a fine recording of the Debussy cello sonata. I was delighted to hear this intricately interwoven performance. Rostropovich's performance is clear in its execution and intent, yet appropriately murky in its impressionistic delivery. I often replay the performance immediately because of the excitement the two musicians exude.

For those interested in intricate chamber music performances, this CD is a "Must Have"!

This is chamber music at its absolute finest. Britten was a pianist of extraordinarily understated warmth and sensitivity and the perfect accompanist to Rostropovich's soaringly beautiful cello playing. This is really is a music date beyond the every day, where something truly magical occurred between two legendary musicians. Apart from this, the quality and tone of recording are second to none. Other reviewers on this site have sniffed slightly at the choice of music, dismissing the Schumann in particular as unsophisticated. Don't listen to them. This is playing of such beauty and passion that, if you are a fan of even just one of the composers featured here - Schubert, Schummann or Debussy - you simply cannot afford to ignore this.

These are indeed magisterial readings, actually dating from 1961 (Schumann and Debussy) and 1968 (Schubert), in superb transfers. The front cover of this Decca Legends CD reissue is a little misleading about these dates, but the inside pages are clear and awesomely complete about this info and more on the technical processes, with the welcome bonus of reproductions of the two original LP covers from which these three pieces are culled.

They are ample, highly-charged romantic readings, leisurely in tempo, hightlighting the brooding wistfulness of Schubert's sonata rather than its youthful geniality, with warm, lyrical, indeed vocal tone and a wealth of nuances from the cellist, magnificent attention to dynamics and articulation from the pianist and superb listening of each other. How can anyone hearing this call the arpeggione sonata a "minor" work eludes me. The same values are applied to the Debussy sonata, resulting in a highly original and convincing interpretation, far removed from the relative dryness that characterized the French tradition of interpretation of that piece (witness Maréchal and Casadesus 1946 recording, reissued by Sony in their complete Casadesus collection). Ample, brooding, profound, harrowing, conjuring an enigmatic sound-world, with the second movement cello pizzicatos explosive like a menacing jazz double-bass: at their hands the sonata sounds like a meditation on approaching death (this was indeed one of Debussy's last compositions) - almost like a composition of Britten, one is tempted to say, and it is hard to imagine it played otherwise after that experience.

Decca's reissue poses a tricky problem of coupling and duplication, though. The Debussy and Schumann originally came on an LP with Britten's cello/piano sonata, and the Schubert was initially paired with Frank Bridge's cello/piano sonata. Now Decca has aptly reissued the Britten in an homogeneous coupling with the composer's two first solo cello suites, performed again by Rostropovich, an indispensable disc for any Britten and/or Rostropovich admirer - or just music lover (Cello Suites). But the Bridge they have reissued on CD again with the Schubert, as in the original LP - an understandable choice if not very generous in terms of timing (52'), but one that imposes on the record buyer an irksome duplication with the present disc (Schubert: Sonata for Arpeggione and Piano; Bridge: Sonata for Cello and Piano).

Bridge was Britten's teacher, so the latter's advocacy of his music is perhaps understandable, yet the cello sonata sounds to me like a broodingly romantic but ultiately impersonal and dull affair, and if forced to chose I would rather be with Schubert-Schumann-Debussy (more favorable in timing too, with 59') than with Schubert-Bridge. However, if like I do you consider that anything recorded by Britten and Rostropovich is of significance, Decca has reissued the Bridge sonata in one of their "British Music Collection" (470-189-2), paired - not very generously in terms of timing (57') - with 3 tone poems recorded in 1996 by the Academy of Saint-Martin in the Fields led by Neville Marriner (originally published in a collection called English Seasons, with tone poems by Bax, Delius, Foulds and Grainger), plus a short song by Kathleen Ferrier. It seems available only from Amazon.uk, though.

Anyway - yes, this Schubert-Schumann-Debussy is indeed of legendary stature.

There is no doubt in my mind that Mstistlav Rostropovich's recordings from the 50s to the 70s are the most precious recordings made by any cellist from the 20th century. What is extra special about this CD is the communion that is achieved with the finest composer/accompanist Benjamin Britten. Cello and piano become one as the performers exhibit their talent and genious by producing a sound that is unique, in particular in Schubert's Arpeggione Sonata. Every note from both instruments has it's own colour, creating the most magnificent musical artwork I have ever heard. From a technical point of view, the remastering of this recording is so perfect that I only need to shut my eyes to get the impression that the musicians are performing live in my own living room. A must for any music lover who can appreciate the difference between a great performance and a magical performance.

The only thing that needs to be said about this recording is that it is the first and last word in beauty, musicianship, elegance and passion. One of Rostropovich's crowning glories and that's quite a statement considering that Mr. Rostropovich's career is the epitome of greatness and artistic achievement. The mutual respect these two artists have for each other is prevalent throughout and the result is one of the greatest chamber music recordings in the history of sound recording. Rush out and get it; one never knows how long it will be around. The Arpeggione may not be on par with the Beethoven Cello Sonatas, in terms of all around depth and crafting, but it is hardly a "...humble (albeit charming) little piece..." as Gramophone's reviewer states in the liner notes. This is music making of the first order and if the Arpeggione is ever to be religated to it's rightful place among the great chamber masterpieces, no doubt this recording will prove to be the reason why. The Schumann and Debussy are equally wonderful (as if that wasn't already taken for granted?)

Any one of the three pieces on this recording is worth the price of the enitire cd. My favorite of the three is Schubert's Arpeggione Sonata. I find it simply one of the most beautiful and sad pieces of music ever written. Until recently I didn't realize the depth and highly poetic nature of Schubert's music, especially his chamber and piano works. The fact that he died at a relatively young age is a true loss for humanity.

The musicianship on this recording is world class. Rostropovitch is my all-time favorite cellist, and then pairing his expressive playing with the piano accompaniment of Benjamin Britten, one of the great musical minds of the 20th century,...what more can one ask? Ok, a recording of high sound quality, which is also the case here.

Rostropvich is absolutely fabulous. Heard it originally on the radio, but this record is even better.

The only drawback is some unevenness in the reproduction, probably due to the quality of the recording equipment in years past.

Wow!

Rostropovich and Britten have provided elegant performances of some truly lovely pieces for cello and piano. I was particularly taken by Schubert's Sonata for Arpeggione, written for a now virtually extinct instrument (the bowed guitar) but which goes extremely well on the cello. I felt that the light, unpretentious touch and flawless technique of the performers fitted this piece perfectly, just as one might have expected from these artists.

The melodies in Schubert's Arpeggione sonata are so sad, beautiful, moving they are the closest a person can get to heaven through music.

I never tire of listening to this CD. This CD is truly legendary in the interpretation by Rostropovich and Britten. The sound is larger than life but I feel as if Rostropovich is playing for me.

If you have never heard of Schubert's Arpeggione sonata - listen to the samples here, you will be swept away. This is the definitive version.

On top of Shubert's piece comes the way Rostro plays it. A pure and subtle delight.

PGB