BaL 15.04.17 - Rachmaninov: Cello Sonata

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

0930
Building a Library on Rachmaninov’s Cello Sonata. Helen Wallace recommends a version of this passionate and turbulent piece of chamber music. The Cello Sonata was overshadowed by the huge success of Rachmaninov’s hugely popular Piano Concerto No. 2, which was also premièred in 1901. However lovers of the concerto will recognise the same sound world in the chamber work.

Available versions:

Julie Albers, Orion Weiss (download)
Boris Andrianov, Rem Urasin
Adolfo Gutiérrez Arenas, Luis Fernando Pérez (download)
Vincent Belanger (cello), Lysandre Menard (piano) (download)
Gautier Capuçon, Gabriela Montero
Constance Carroll, Jeffrey Noel Lastrapes
Alexander Chaushian, Yevgeny Sudbin
Natalie Clein, Charles Owen (download)
Silvia Chiesa, Maurizio Baglini
William Conway, Peter Evans
Antony Cooke, Armin Watkins
Alexandre Debrus, Alexander Mogilevsky
Denise Djokic, David Jalbert
Steven Doane, Barry Snyder
Leonard Elschenbroich, Alexei Grynyuk
Evelyn Elsing, Santiago Rodriguez
Guy Fallot, Rita Possa (download)
Sol Gabetta, Olga Kern
Anne Gastinel, Pierre-Laurent Aimard (download)
Gwyneth George, Alberto Portugheis
Timothy Gill, Fali Pavri
David Geringas, Ian Fountain (download)
Rivka Golani (viola), John Lenehan
Michael Grebanier, Janet Guggenheim
Lynn Harrell, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Gary Hoffman, Jean Philippe Collard (download)
Maximilian Hornung, Gerhard (download)
Robert Irvine, Graeme McNaught
Steven Isserlis, Stephen Hough
Steven Isserlis (DVD)
Yuki Ito, Sofya Gulyak
Alexander Ivashkin, Rustem Hayroudinoff
Friedrich Kleinhapl, Andreas Woyke
Benedict Kloeckner, Anna Fedorova
Alexander Kniazev, Nikolai Lugansky
Arseny Kotlyarevsky, Igor Kotlyarevsky
Nina Kotova, Fabio Bidini
Harriet Krijgh, Magda Amara
Edmund Kurtz, William Kapell
Eric Kutz, Miko Kominami
Julian Lloyd Webber, Yitkin Seow
Nikolai Lugansky, Alexander Kniazev
Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax
Mischa Maisky Sergio Tiempo
Truls Mørk, Jean-Yves Thibaud
Johannes Moser, Andrei Korobeinikov
Alfia Nakipbekova, Eleonora Nakipbekova
Zara Nelsova, Artur Balsam (CD/vinyl/download)
Pei-Sian Ng, David Tong
Amit Peled, Noreen Polera(download)
Li-wei Qin, Albert Tiu
Hans Roelofsen (double bass), Múza Rubackyté (download)
Nathaniel Rosen, Pavlina Dokovska
Mstislav Rostropovich, Vladimir Horowitz (download)
Mstislav Rostropovich, Alexander Dedyukhin
Eckart Runge, Jacques Ammon
Alexander Russakovsky, Amber Shay Nicholson
Rohan de Saram, Druvi de Saram
Niklas Schmidt, John Chen
Heinrich Schiff, Elisabeth Leonskaja
Anna Serova (viola), Filippo Faes
Daniil Shafran, Anton Ginsburg
Martin Stanzeleit, Motoi Kawashima (download)
Janos Starker, Shigeo Neriki
Julian Steckel, Paul Rivinius
Petja Svensson, Bengt-Ake Lundlin
Marina Tarasova, Alexander Polezhaev
Tanja Tetzlaff, Gunilla Süssmann
Torleif Thedéen, Roland Pöntinen
Camille Thomas, Beatrice Berrut
Mikhail Tolpygo (viola), Manuel Gonzalez (download)
Paul Tortelier, Aldo Ciccolini
Yuli Turovsky, Luba Edlina
Mikhail Utkin, Marina Gorokholinsky
Jamie Walton, Daniel Grimwood
Jamie Walton, Charles Owen
Wendy Warner, Irina Nuzova
Alisa Weilerstein, Inon Barnatan
Marko Ylonen, Arto Satukangas (download)
Yuri Zhislin (viola), George-Emmanuel Lazaridis

[BBMmk2]

Wow! some work there EA! many thanks, as usual. I think I have in in my collection but not sure, off hand! My CDs etc, are all ready(or most of them), for when new book cases come! Should be quite a good listen this BaL!

[Pianorak]

Looking forward to that. Narek Hakhnazaryan, one of my current favourite cellists, seems not to have recorded it yet.

[visualnickmos]

Fantastic achievemnt EA - as always
I'm actually very surprised there are so many to 'choose' from.....

[mikealdren]

It shows how much cellists love the work and want to record it. I wouldn't expect many of us have multiple recordings though..........

[Nick Armstrong]

Wonderful piece, which to my ears benefits from not being 'over-emoted' - I've heard several performances in which the cellist seems to be loving it to death. Never got on with Yo-Yo Ma's version, for example.

I've long had a soft spot for the recording on ASV by Bernard Gregor-Smith and Yolande Wrigley (rightly not in Alpie's list, it seems pretty much unavailable alas) - played 'straight' and bringing out the melancholy rather than something more over-wrought and sentimental.

I'll be listening to this BAL with interest.

[Pianorak]

Daniil Shafran, Yakov Flier (in addition to Daniil Shafran, Anton Ginsburg)
David Finckel, Wu Han

[seabright]

I remember reading somewhere ages ago that the Cello Sonata would make a very good Cello Concerto if the piano part were to be orchestrated. The version on You Tube with an excellent young cellist makes out the case for such arrangement rather well, I think. Of course Rachmaninov himself was a great transcriber of other composers' music, so the precedent was already set. In any case, such an arrangement would be something extra for cellists to play in concert, alongside the concertos of Dvorak, Elgar, Walton and so on ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RL91r_-AjiY

[makropulos]

It shows how much cellists love the work and want to record it. I wouldn't expect many of us have multiple recordings though..........

Not just cellists. Among others, I have:
Luzhanov/Svetlanov (Russian Disc, presumably deleted - nice to have Svetlanov playing the piano part)
Nelsova/Balsam (Decca)
Clein/Owen (EMI)
Ma/Ax (Sony)
Gastinel/Aimard
Walton/Grimwood

Looking forward to this BAL - I'm always happy to add another version of this wonderful piece.

[pastoralguy]

This was a piece I 'discovered' last year and have listened to many times. Nice to know that it can still happen!

[Bryn]

Wonderful piece, which to my ears benefits from not being 'over-emoted' - I've heard several performances in which the cellist seems to be loving it to death. Never got on with Yo-Yo Ma's version, for example.

I've long had a soft spot for the recording on ASV by Bernard Gregor-Smith and Yolande Wrigley (rightly not in Alpie's list, it seems pretty much unavailable alas) - played 'straight' and bringing out the melancholy rather than something more over-wrought and sentimental.

I'll be listening to this BAL with interest.

ASIN: B000001HPN at amazon.co.uk. I've taken your word for it and grabbed a "Used - Very Good" copy for a song.

[Nick Armstrong]

ASIN: B000001HPN at amazon.co.uk. I've taken your word for it and grabbed a "Used - Very Good" copy for a song.

Do report back! Hope you don't hate it!

[Beef Oven!]

I followed your leads - thanks gentlemen

I know and like the work, but don’t have a recording.

[Nick Armstrong]

I followed your leads - thanks gentlemen

Oh Lor! I'm stressed now!

[Beef Oven!]

Oh Lor! I'm stressed now!

if it’s no good we’ll company-fund (one more needed for a crowd) and sue you