This recording derives
from a concert given in the Martin Luther
Church in Peine. At least three members
of what I take to be the Gelbard Piano
Quartet (Gelbard himself, cellist Rossokha
and pianist Elena Kuschnerova) are now
resident in Germany though Mikhail Moulder
still seems to be teaching in Moscow.
Firstly a quick word about names. Though
the disc sports the name Guelbard I
have been assured that Gelbard is the
preferred spelling.
The church acoustic
is not very appealing for the chamber
works and can, it must be said, get
a little tiring. The most harmonious
work in this respect is the Piano Quartet,
which gets a strong and often pensive
performance and expands to fill the
space quite satisfactorily. The performance
is underpinned by the pianist’s sensitively
shaped contribution and the corporate
rhythmic drive is well calibrated, even
though some of the string playing can
be scrappy in the heat of the moment.
But the sonatas do bear the brunt of
the problem and they’re not helped by
Gelbard’s rather unrelieved playing.
From the start of the Brahms we are
aware of vibrato bulges and dynamics
that tend to stress the potential non-legato
unease of the opening paragraphs to
an exaggerated degree. It’s a feature
of his performance that overstatement
and over-vibration are predominant and
when technical problems occur (they
do and they are passing in the main)
they tend to impede rhythm. They certainly
charge into the finale after some capriciously
phrased passages in the Scherzo – and
it’s probably the recording’s fault
that accompanying violin figures are
much too loud. Kuschnerova plays extremely
well and is genuinely supportive but
the end is just too untidy and uncomfortable.
The Schubert shares
many of the same characteristics as
the Brahms; there’s a rather hectoring
quality to the music-making in the first
movement that I find inimical to affectionate
or flowing phrasing though the Andante
is very much better with fine chordal
depth from Kuschnerova. Their Minuetto,
however, is a bit jowly after the freshness
of Grumiaux and Castagnone. Sorry, but
I don’t get their Allegro finale at
all; it’s point-makingly slow and artificially
"interior."
Jonathan Woolf
Elena Kuschnerova (piano) 