Title - Chopin
Artist - Anne Gastinel & Claire Désert
For those unaware, other than the piano, there were few instruments on which Chopin focused his attention, which makes this album featuring cellist Anne Gastinel something of a rarity – all the more so in the hands of this iconic French cellist and her partner Claire Désert, veterans of countless concerts and recordings over several decades.
Their united voice – as always, remote from the chorus of the mundane and the media-fixated – is a subtle, inspired cantilena. For here it is all about the singing voice that Chopin declared to be his model, overtly influenced as he was by Italian bel canto opera.
Anne Gastinel savors every moment, not only with the sense of refinement she shares with the greatest singers, but with a palpable musical breathing, sensitively illuminated at the piano by Claire Désert, an accompanist in the very noblest tradition.
1. nocturne en mi bémol majeur, op. 9 no. 2
2-5. sonate pour violoncelle et piano en sol mineur op. 65
6-7. introduction et polonaise brillante en ut majeur op. 3
8. frédéric chopin - auguste franchomme (grand duo concertant)
9. nocturne no. 20 et ut diése mineur b. 49
The recital begins (and ends) with Nocturnes, opening on the immensely evocative, and beautifully embroidered with eloquence of Chopin’s melodic lines throughout, nocturne en mi bémol majeur, op. 9 no. 2 which is followed by the quartet piece sonate pour violoncelle et piano en sol mineur op. 65: the flirtatious Allegro moderato leads the way, then comes the gently fervent Scherzo, the sterner Largo, closing on the vivaciously dulcet Finale. Allegro.
Up next are the free wheeling delights found pleasantly, if not perhaps even royally, coursing within the duo of introduction et polonaise brillante en ut majeur op. 3, the works rounding out on auguste franchomme (grand duo concertant) - where the two soloists vividly reveal an equal share in the virtuosity within the 12 minute work - the new collection coming to a close with their beguiling interpretation of nocturne no. 20 et ut diése mineur b. 49.
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