Reviews for Shostakovich, Prokofiev and Britten Sonatas
Editor's Choice - James Jolly wrote..'For the cellist Pieter Wispelwey, these three great 20-century cello sonatas have one thing in common - 'an element of alienation; in Shostokovich's case it's the tension between romanticism and modernism, in Prokofiev's the balancing in the verge of parody and in Britten's the alchemistic way in which he makes the musical material undergo all kinds of metamorphoses'. An outstanding cellist and a really wonderful musician, Wispelwey imbues each with tremendous intensity.
Review by Andrew Aschenbach
Another winner from Wispelwey; playing of plentiful eloquence and imagination
We're not short of first-rate accounts of the Sonata that Britten wrote for Rostropovich in 1960. Pieter Wispelwey and Dejan Lazic immediately throw down the gauntlet with a provocatively mobile, nervy reading of the opening 'Dialogo'(They are over a minute swifter than both comparative rivals). Its a lean, lithe and sparky view that proves symptomatic of the whole. Traditionalists may baulk, finding it all perhaps a bit too cunning for comfort, but there's no denying the intellect, emotional scope and questing spirit on show.
Wispelwey's mellow, distinctively 'vocal' tone projection is heard to particularly beguiling advantage in the flowing lyrical lines that are such a feature of first and third movements of the Shostokovich Sonata. If ultimately not quite as selfless or humane as Rostropovich's 1964 alliance with Britten, here is a rapt and characterful reading which never loses sight of the Classical sensibility beneath this music's by turns troubled and slyly humorous surface. As for Prokofiev's seductive sonata, these quick-witted newcomers give another articulate and poetic display, with results which are more personable and subtly variegated than the beefier Chang/Pappano version.
Boasting vividly truthful sound and admirable balance (audiophiles should make a bee-line to the SACD equivalent), this classy Channel Classics release has already afforded me heaps of stimulation and pleasure.
Review in The Strad December 2003
This is the business. Unless you are obsessed with an older generation of cellists, you will not find greater artistry anywhere; the realisations are simply complete, however they are assessed. The glowing recording is well balanced and Dejan Lazic's accompanimental work is repsonsive, alert and thoroughly idiomatic.
But it is on Pieter Wispelwey's fabulous achievement that one must concentrate. He evinces the utmost beauty of tone in the Shostokovich Sonata, paying remarkable attention to expressive detail: in particular the second subject of the first movement takes one breath away. He also shows exemplary aesthetic intelligence in the Allegro and the veiled tone of the Largo has about it a special lightness. To broach his technical accomplishments in the finale would be gratuitous.
In Prokofiev's op 119 Sonata the Dutchman once more floats ideas - such as the second subject of the Andante Grave - avoiding ponderousness but always imbuing his line with sensitivity. Moreover, he brings to bear a heady combination of grace, energy and good humour in the closing Allegro ma non troppo.
In the Britten sonata the performance reveals how this composer almost always had something arresting to say, notwithstanding the deployment of conventional tools. So perfect is the understanding of the Dialogo, so well executed are the shifts from hesitancy to explosive rhetoric, that the instrumental components are obfuscated and what is left is a sense of disembodied speech. Just as illustrative is the Marcia, which here presents as a series of disturbingly fussy manoeuvrings, the twitchings of an unquiet mind. Brilliant!
Classic FM Magazine - Michael Quinn - July 2003
Pieter Wispelwey (cello)
Dejan Lazic (piano)
Definitive performances? As near as makes no difference. In his booklet note, the enterprising Dutch cellist Pieter Wispelwey characterises these remarkable chamber works by Shostakovich, Prokofiev and Britten as 'the wolf, the Rolls Royce and the unicorn' of 20th-century cello sonatas. It's fanciful idea, but an illuminating one, too. 'Bulging with character and individuality. Dramatic and meaningful music with plenty of suspense,' is another telling comment which underpins the probing and purposeful approach taken by Wispelwey and his Zagreb-born accompanist Dejan Lajic on this deliciously invigorating recording. Try to listen to the SACD version, which has a more detailed and finely sculpted framing of the wonderful playing to be found on the standard CD release. Together, Wispelwey and Lajic make a vigorous, incisive case for these rewarding works. Coupling the lyrical yet troubled Shostakovich, with Prokofiev's intimate, deceptively virtuosic poetry and Britten's wryly humorous slant on things is perfect programming. Delivering that disparate trio of works with such judgment and balance sets magnificent standards. Praise is due all round. 5 stars Channel CCS20098
International Record Review September 2003 - Julian Haylock
This exemplary release conveniently groups together three of the twentieth century's finest cello sonatas. If Shostakovich often attempts to thinly disguise an underlying irony with a surfaced veneer of enchanting lyricism, the Prokofiev is an altogether richer, more romantically charged work, while the Britten typically alarms with its often terrifying juxtapositions of introvert poetics and extrovert explosions.
It is a mark of his impact on cello playing during the last century that all three works were either written for, or became indelibly associated with, Mstislav Rostropovich. Pieter Wispelwey is a very different player, a master poet who responds to each work with a mesmerizing range of tonal colours, dynamics and articulation. By comparison, Rostropovich, in his celebrated recordings, sounds very much the grand master, his musical thinking instinctively derived from nineteenth-century Romantic rhetoric.
Wispelwey and Dejan Lazic sound far less drawn towards the heroic gesture or neurotic changeability in the Shostakovich, but rather fearlessly integrate the work's contrasts so that the various musical events appear to grow inevitably out of one another. In this context the first movement's second-subject material becomes an oasis of calm, while much of the surrounding material appears to reflect the reverse side of the coin, but without a hint of hysteria. The Moto-perpetuo Scherzo becomes chillingly Mendelssohnian in its darting textures (enhanced by the meticulously balanced recording), rather than the full-on physical assault that is often served up.
Wispelwey sounds like a different player in the Prokofiev, musing with a rich-toned intensity that would have been quite unsuitable for Shostakovich's neo-Classical terrain. Whereas the Shostakovich is chock-full of double takes and semantic obfuscations, the Prokofiev is more open and uncomplicated in its expressive intensity. Once again, Wispelwey's and Lazic's sensitivity to the work's shifting moods and their integration results in a reading whose autumnal reflectiveness and affectionate grace uncovers a vein of barely restrained nostalgia which is deeply touching.
In many ways the Britten presents the greatest interpretative challenge. The work's unpredictability has led many interpreters to emphasize its occasionally angular gestures and bleak outlook with a percussive, vertical overview. Full marks then to this fine team who, without in any way undermining the work's expressive impact, are refreshingly lyrical and invariably manage to find a way of fusing Britten's fearless contrasts in a manner that illuminates the music's internal logic. A very special disc indeed.