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Audio Samples
Album Summary
Performers
Alexander Chaushian (Cello)- Yevgeny Sudbin (Piano)
Notes & Reviews:
Composed between 1860 and 1934, the works on this disc hail from a momentous period in Russian music - from the emergence of a national Russian school of composing advocated by the group called ‘The Mighty Five’ (of which Borodin was a member), to Stalin’s denunciation of Shostakovich’s opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, which was to cause generations of Russian composers to harness their modernist leanings. To look for evidence of such historical circumstances in the present program could however be misleading. Alexander Borodin’s Sonata in B minor (an early work which was published only in 1982 in a completion by the composer and musicologist Mikhail Goldstein) was inspired by a theme from Bach’s Sonata for solo violin in G minor, a thoroughly ‘un-Russian’ source of inspiration. And although Sergei Rachmaninov’s Sonata in G minor - and certainly his Vocalise - has a broad tunefulness which might be thought of as ‘Russian’, it was composed after the failure in 1897 of his First Symphony, when the country’s musical establishment turned its back on the young composer. As for the music of Dmitri Shostakovich, there is certainly a big change in style after the official criticism of Lady Macbeth in 1936. It’s equally true that his Sonata in D minor does point towards a new direction - but the work had been composed in 1934, implying that the seeds of this change of style were already present before the articles in Pravda. Whether typically Russian or not, the three sonatas are here given warm and inspired performances by the Armenian-born cellist Alexander Chaushian with Yevgeny Sudbin, his chamber music partner of long standing, at the piano. The two have previously recorded sonatas by Mieczyslaw Weinberg for BIS; a disc which was hailed as ‘the best possible case for a reappraisal of this undervalued composer’ in BBC Music Magazine, while the reviewer in International Record Review found it ‘difficult to imagine finer performances than these’.
"The rarity here is Borodin's Cello Sonata, an early work of charm and vigour, reconstructed in the 20th century and calling for just the sort of adept, imaginative handling it gets here...The playing is of a supreme order and profoundly expressive." --The Telegraph
"Though we will never know with absolute certainty what Borodin's intentions were with his Sonata, Goldstein's completion makes a convincing case, begging the question why more cellists aren't putting their mark on this worthwhile composition. Chaushian and Sudbin play together with the same unity and fluidity as a duo that's played together for many years. Most notable is the intimacy and true "chamber" feel they achieve, particularly in the frequently more symphonically-interpreted Rachmaninov Sonata... BIS's sound is enjoyably simple and unfettered, allowing listeners to hear every nuance and detail put forth by the composers." -All Music Guide
Gramophone
In the Rachmaninov I hear still more range of colour and attack - and in general a more rapturous responsiveness - from Mørk and Thibaudet, and for the Shostakovich I would certainly want to turn from time to time to larger-than-life personalities such as Rostropovich and the composer (whose 1957 recording comes and goes on various labels but is rarely long absent from the catalogue). Chaushian is also non-indulgent to a fault in the famous Vocalise. But for reference versions of this repertoire, distinguished by impeccable taste and top-notch sound, I would be greatly reassured to have this new disc on my shelves, too.
American Record Guide
This has excellent sound, and the playing is excellent.
Recording information: St George's Bristol, England (01/2010).
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Works Details
Rachmaninov, Sergei : Sonata for cello & piano in G minor, Op. 19 - Performers: Alexander Chaushian (Cello); Yevgeny Sudbin (Piano)
- Running Time: 35 min. 39 sec.
- Period Time: Post Romantic
- Written: 1901
Borodin, Alexander : Sonata for cello & piano in B minor - Performers: Yevgeny Sudbin (Piano); Alexander Chaushian (Cello)
- Running Time: 18 min. 50 sec.
- Period Time: Romantic
- Written: 1860
Shostakovich, Dmitri : Sonata for Cello and Piano in D minor, Op. 40 - Performers: Alexander Chaushian (Cello); Yevgeny Sudbin (Piano)
- Notes: Composition written: 1934.
- Running Time: 22 min. 27 sec.
- Period Time: Modern
- Written: 1934
Rachmaninov, Sergei : Songs (14), Op. 34 - Performers: Yevgeny Sudbin (Piano); Alexander Chaushian (Cello)
- Running Time: 5 min. 25 sec.
- Period Time: Post Romantic
