MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger


 
REVIEW


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

alternatively
CD: AmazonUK AmazonUS
Download: Classicsonline


French Cello Sonatas
Gabriel PIERNÉ (1863 - 1937)
Sonata in F sharp minor for cello and piano Op.46 (1922) [21:15]
Nadia BOULANGER (1887 - 1979)
Trois pièces pour cello et piano (1914) [6:45]
Vincent D’INDY (1851 - 1931)
Lied for cello and piano Op.19 (1884) [7:52]
Sonata for cello and piano (1924-25) [18:23]
Gabriel PIERNÉ
Expansion Op.23 (1888) [2:07]
Caprice Op.16 (1887) [2:48]
Nicolas Altstaedt (cello); José Gallardo (piano)
rec. Potton Hall, Westleton, Suffolk England, 18-20 August 2008
NAXOS 8.572105 [59:36] 

Experience Classicsonline

The three composers whose music is on offer here share the fact that their lives (if not their compositional careers) straddle the second half of the 19th Century through to the early/middle of the 20th. It is particularly interesting to note that in the case of Nadia Boulanger, although she lived until 1979 she gave up composition in the 1920s. Excluding for a moment the three shorter works presented the two sonatas date from the 1920s and the Boulanger pieces from 1914. But there is little of the Brave New World in the musical language here. Both D’Indy and Pierné use a musical language that looks back to the Belle Époque. Gabriel Pierné is a composer who remains very much at the periphery of most people’s musical knowledge. Apart from his lighter orchestral works like March of the Little Lead Soldiers and the Marche des petits Faunes his original compositions remain resolutely little-known. As a conductor he was responsible for such notable premieres as Stravinsky’s Firebird for the Ballets Russes in 1910 so clearly he was at the centre of artistic activity in Paris in the early years of the last century. Which makes the resolute Franckisms of the 1922 Cello Sonata in F sharp minor all the more surprising. Clearly the cyclic tonal idiom was where he was most comfortable. This is a one movement work that plays for some twenty minutes. Within that span are well defined sections and the whole work is patently well crafted. That being said it resolutely refuses to stick in my memory and I’m not wholly sure why that should be.

Cellist Nicolas Altstaedt and pianist José Gallardo are both committed advocates so it is not for the lack of their efforts. Altstaedt is a winner of an International competition and has technique to spare. That being said, I have to say that I don’t respond much to the style in which he plays any of this programme. He seems to prefer a muscular and quite strenuous approach that I find does not lie easily with the soulful aspects of the music here. The opening is beautifully poised but very soon Altstaedt opts for a preferred fast vibrato and roisinous approach. This is at odds with Gallardo’s piano playing which is far more ‘placed’. I do not have access to any scores nor have I previously encountered these pieces but instinctively I find his approach heavy-handed. I could imagine exactly that approach paying great dividends in other repertoire but not here. Try half-way into the Pierné Sonata at about 11:30 - powerful playing and technically in complete control it just feels too ‘big’ to me. Even when the mood quickly subsides little more than a minute later I feel a cooler, more floated sound would have been better suited. Don’t get me wrong though, this is an approach I’m sure many will enjoy because it is well played - it is just that the choices do not work for me.

I have to admit that my basic lack of pleasure in the chosen style persists for most of the recital. As mentioned before, the Nadia Boulanger Trois pièces date from 1914 and certainly occupy a similar sound-world to that of her extraordinary sister Lili’s Nocturne for violin (or flute) and piano. The opening movement - Modéré - starts really promisingly with a gentle song beautifully sung but again I find Altstaedt’s preference for heavy accentuation totally at odds with the style in general and my understanding of this genre - he really digs into the notes at 1:30. The reflective playing is beautiful and he is very willing to pare his tone away stunningly as the movement ends. The second movement benefits from a generally gentler style although I find it curious how the speed and intensity of the vibrato seems to be closely allied to dynamic and register. The higher and louder he goes the faster the vibrato gets. The final movement is marked Vite et nerveusement rhythmé - and again for all the perfect technical address I find the chosen style at odds with the ‘nerveusement’ instruction - this is aggressive not nervous playing. Altstaedt allows some of his pizzicati to ‘slap’ in a Bartókian way which is surely not idiomatic for French music of this period.

He does the same later in the D’Indy Sonata which I find equally disconcerting. Things start well, another clear reflection of the technique on display but rather than allowing lines to unfold lyrically Altstaedt prefers to accentuate key notes within phrases that for me destroys the musical line. These bulges occur within 26 seconds of the opening and undermine the essential simplicity of the approach. Don’t forget D’Indy was one of the founders of the Schola Cantorum in the 1890s and much of his musical aesthetic centred on the musical forms of the past. Hence this Sonata features baroque suite titles of Gavotte en rondeau, Air, and Gigue. Not that the listener should expect for a moment simple pastiche, rather modern(ish!) music imbued with the spirit of an earlier age. The playing should reflect this. In this performance I feel a tension between the written note and the played one. Pianist Gallardo achieves a more appropriately even and limpid style and I enjoyed his playing considerably more than that of his colleague. Again I should stress I have not seen the scores so there might well be markings there to justify every accent; even if that is the case I would feel them to be over-stressed. This continues in each movement with the playing belying the subsidiary movement markings; tranquillement for the second movement and gaiment for the Finale. The latter in particular is positively aggressive - try track 9 1:30 onwards for more explosive pizzicati and heavy accentuation.

The disc concludes with two further short Pierné pieces. Both are pleasant but would not be the main reason for buying this disc. Similar performance traits are evident. By now I am sure it will be clear that I find this a disappointing disc. I’ve wanted to avoid all the clichés about Gallic wit and charm but I can’t help but come to the conclusion that this repertoire would be better served by a more elegant approach. Not that there is not muscle and sinew in this music because there is but it should lie beneath the surface.

Producer/Engineer Michael Ponder - the player on one of the great viola recital discs of English music ever in his alter ego of Dame Avril Piston - the disc is called Heartache on Guild GMCD7275 - knows this venue well (it was the site of Dame Avril’s great triumph) and uses all his experience of music from the inside to produce a beautifully warm and balanced sound at the Potton Hall venue. That being said Altstaedt is the dominant personality here and again I feel this unbalances the overall effect. So, overall a curious disc, interesting - if not revelatory - repertoire, well engineered and produced, typically lucid notes from Keith Anderson, lovely piano, technically superb cello playing but in a chosen style that leaves me totally cold. Best you decide for yourselves!

Nick Barnard 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools






Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.