As I grumpily note
most times I have occasion to review
his music I am no great admirer of Piazzolla.
Still, I put away my World Music milch
cow objections from time to time, and
the Claremont Duo certainly make something
evocative and sensual out of Oblivion,
a piece I’ve heard elsewhere living
down to its name. The Duo is composed
of cello and guitar so we have a pleasant
album of arrangements and transcriptions,
in the main, and agreeably charming.
Kraft was Haydn’s principal cello in
the Esterhazy orchestra and Haydn wrote
his cello concertos for Kraft. As a
composer Kraft’s geniality is spiced
with lyrical ease – that and a songful
generosity (one of the phrases in the
opening of the Lento cantabile sounds
just like a phrase from one of those
Haydn Concertos). Neuman doesn’t project
an unnecessarily big sound here but
is judicious in her vibrato and lyric
phrasing – as both are in the finale,
with its delicious pizzicato episode,
where Ernst’s role is obviously more
constrained.
The trio of pieces
by Fauré are difficult to transcribe
really effectively. The guitar accompaniment
sometimes clashes with the cello’s string
sonority and can also be unsubtle (not
in execution – Ernst is fine). Whilst
I liked the Sicilienne I didn’t
fall for Après un rêve
which needs less of the plinky clinky
chordal stuff from the guitar and greater
phrasal sensitivity from the cello –
it’s also too loud and needs more awareness
of dynamics. The Mozart Divertimento
was apparently originally written
for two clarinets and bassoon. They
play the Menuetto particularly well
with fine and delightful rhythm and
a sure control of sonority and nuance.
Allen Cohen’s Duo-Partita was written
especially for these performers. It
contains within it hints of the baroque
and is written in a direct and accessible
style, most attractively so in fact.
There are elements of Spanishry in the
accompanying guitar figures as well
as more rugged though still affirmatory
writing. The second movement is a Passacaglia
and Fugue, conventional enough until
it begins to swing along the way and
the Romanza, though not unclouded, manages
to insinuate itself into the mind. The
cello plays in alt and the guitar sings
single lines – atmospheric and effective
and Cohen manages to differentiate the
string registers and sonorities well.
The sharply etched finale is also etched
with moments of nostalgia but there’s
also a driving moto perpetuo element
that pulses the music onwards that uses
the guitar’s percussive potential well,
in which each instrument’s quiet reveries
are mocked by the other. The final furlong
is exciting and wilful.
Well produced the booklet
notes are tidy and to the point with
nothing effusive about it. If the purpose
of it was to divert by showing contemporary
works, such as the Cohen and Gismonti’s
swaying Agua e vinho, in their Divertimento
context then I think it succeeds.
Jonathan Woolf
Maxine Neuman (cello) 
