Volume 9 Issue 3 - November 2003

hythms, as well as Britten's
evocative Russian folksongs. Her
producer, Stephen Moccio, has
provided the decidedly bewildering
program notes, with their puzzling
metaphors, malapropisms, and inscrutable
musings.
Why devote a whole disc to
transcriptions of late nineteenth
century French violin works?
Certainly Yo-Yo Ma is by no means
the first cellist to record these works,
especially Franck's much-loved
Sonata in A Major. And, ultimately,
Ma's exquisite playing disarms
objections. His unmatched mastery
of the infinite nuances of vibrato and
bowing gives a vital edge to each
note and an eloquent shape to each
phrase. He accords Franck's
mark in gs, 1 ike "espressivo"
"dramatico" and "passionato", their
full impact, without romantic excess.
The beauty of his sound high on
the fingerboard, especially in his own
transcription of Faure' s Sonata in A
mojor, where he plays at the same
pitch as the violin, is breathtaking.
The Saint-Saens is thrilling in the best
virtuosic tradition. But a cello, no
matter how beautiful, is simply not
credible as the voice of Thais, the
young priestess who, in Massenet's
opera, is onstage with her thoughts
during the famous Meditation.
The booklet includes a welcome
biography of the pianist, Kathryn
Stott, who provides sensitive and
beautifully textured accompaniment,
but, apart from a reference to his
childhood in Paris in the rather pompous
program notes, none of Ma.
The indomitable spirit of Mstislav
Rostropovich looms over a fascinating
program from the poetic Dutch
cellist Pieter Wispelwey. In his
engaging, if quirky, booklet notes
Wispelwey compares Shostakovich's
SonaJa ind minor to "a wolf roaming
through the city". Subtly he captures
the ironic tone, with pianist Dejan
Lazi contributing vivid contrasts of
mood in the demanding final
movement.
In Prokofiev's Sonata in C major,
"a Rolls Royce in the Russian countryside",
Wispelwey, with his full,
richly nuanced sound, brings out the
romantic soul of this modernist work.
Britten's Sonata in C major, "a
unicorn in the back yard'', is assertively
uncompromising, with a
rhapsodic, tenderly religious quality
reminiscent of the War Requiem from
the same year. In the third movement
Elegia, Wispelwey ardently brings
out the darkness underlying the rather
deceptive folk-like quality.
Channel Classics provides an
exemplary booklet, including
examples from the score. The sound
perfectly balances clarity with
spacious ambience.
In taking on Brahms' magnificent
cello sonatas, Russian-Canadian
cellist Yegor Dyachkov joins some
pretty formidable predecessors, including
Ma and Wispelwey [and
Canadian Dennis Brott, whose
recording for this same label is still
in print - Analekta FL 2 3009].
Dyachkov has a beautiful sound -
perhaps too beautiful. In his
reluctance to take dramatic risks, or
to produce a wide variety of timbres,
he underplays the melodies, and
barely acknowledges Brahms' own
markings for dynamics and
articulation.
But Dyachkov's incisive musical
insight leads to vibrant contrapuntal
textures in the canons, and his elegant
sound effectively creates wistful
dialogues with Jean Saulnier's lovely
piano. In the Adagio of the Sonata
in D major, originally written for
violin and arranged either by Brahms
or with his approval, Dyachkov
achieves a wonderfully sensitive
tenderness .
Pam Margles
Concert Notes: Denise Djokic performs
with pianist David Jalbert at
Glenn Gould Studio in the OnStage
series on November 25.
Yo-Yo Ma will once again show
his fondness for the city of Toronto
and his ongoing support of the TSO
in a special gala performance with
the orchestra on Saturday December
6 at 7:00. He will perform the
Schumann Cello Concerto and
Tchaikovsky's Variations on a
Rococo Theme with the TSO 's new
director Peter Oundjian.
Later in the season David Jalbert
will give a piano recital for the
Women's Musical Club in Walter
Hall at the Faculty of Music,
University of Toronto on Tuesda_v
March 25 at 1:30 pm and Yegor
Dyachkov plays with Via Salzburg
on Thursday April 29 and Friday
April 30 at the Glenn Gould Studio.
Editor's note: Yo-Yo Ma's most
recent CD release is a collaboration
with producer/arranger Jorge Calandrelli
entitled Obrigado Brazil (Sony
SK89935) which features works by
Heitor Villa-Lobos, Antonio Carlos
Jobim, Egberto Gismonti et al, and
includes performances by Sergio and
Odair Assad, Paquito D'Riviera and
Roberto Gismonti among other
luminaries.