Schatten (Kurtág) - from CDA67948 - Hyperion Records

Reviews

‘This blissfully unhackneyed and brilliantly executed recital … the performance's sheer panache is as persuasive as the tonal refinement preceding it, and the recording throughout gives the players all the space and atmosphere they need to characterise the varied moods and textures of an unusually rewarding programme’ (Gramophone)

‘Something very special. Their choice of repertory here—devised as an extended upbeat to Adès's Lieux retrouvés at the end of the programme—is unusual, memorable, and wonderfully performed from start to finish’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘Lieux retrouvés is some of the most enjoyable and readily accessible contemporary music you're likely to encounter … this music, like everything else on this recording, is brilliantly played by Isserlis and Adès. Unreservedly recommended’ (International Record Review)

‘Isserlis's brilliant recital disc with Adès makes an admirably integrated whole. The Proustianly titled Lieux retrouvés, which Adès wrote for the cellist and himself, is, in effect, a four-movement sonata whose figuration and part-writing knock at the door of the complex to seek the visionary. Isserlis is furiously lyrical and concentrated here, but no less so in the other works, which offer aptly Romantic-modern context for Adès's inspiration. Fauré's beautiful Second Sonata is dispatched not merely with superb elan, but with almost desperate intensity from both players’ (The Sunday Times)

‘Isserlis plays with almost tangible intensity and soul, while Adès finds charm and natural expression at every turn—a true musical dialogue’ (Financial Times)

‘There is an engaging emotional path running through, from the nostalgic resignation of late Liszt—three stark but lyrical transcriptions—to Adès' stirring title piece … the two men secure what Adès describes as the inner illumination and rapture of Fauré's 1921 Second Sonata, investing its Finale with the sinew and thrust of a younger Ravel’ (The New Zealand Herald)

The last two pieces in this group stray into the region of the barely audible; both call for the heaviest possible mute, softening the sound of the cello to an ethereal smoulder. They are formed from the simplest of musical materials, mostly descending scales—music reduced to its bare essentials.

In Schatten (Shadows) dark forms scurry away, almost indistinguishable from the stillness surrounding them; it is as if other shadows are crouching in the night, taking cover in the silence. The atmosphere evokes the ghost in Shakespeare’s Hamlet: ‘’Tis here!—’Tis here!—’Tis gone!’

Les deux dernières pièces de ce corpus, qui s’aventurent dans l’à peine audible, exigent la plus forte sourdine possible, adoucissant la sonorité du violoncelle en une fumée éthérée. Elles sont bâties du plus simple des matériaux musicaux, pour l’essentiel des gammes descendantes—la musique réduite à ses fondamentaux épurés.

Dans Schatten (Ombres), de sombres silhouettes détalent, tout justes discernables dans la quiétude qui les enveloppe; c’est comme si d’autres ombres se tapissaient dans la nuit, abritées dans le silence. L’ambiance rappelle le fantôme du Hamlet de Shakespeare: «Il est ici!—Il est ici!—Il est parti!».

Die letzten beiden Stücke dieser Gruppe befinden sich in der Region des kaum Hörbaren; in beiden wird der stärkste Dämpfer verlangt, so dass der Celloklang zu einem ätherischen Glimmen abgemildert wird. Die Werke setzen sich aus sehr schlichtem musikalischen Material zusammen, hauptsächlich aus absteigenden Tonleitern: Musik, die auf das Wesentliche reduziert ist.

In Schatten huschen dunkle Schemen umher, die kaum von der Stille, die sie umgibt, unterscheidbar sind; es ist, als kauerten andere Schatten in der Nacht, die in der Stille in Deckung gehen. Die Atmosphäre ruft den Geist aus Hamlet wach: „’S ist hier!—’S ist hier!—’S ist fort!“

Recording details: December 2011
Concert Hall, Wyastone Estate, Monmouth, United Kingdom
Produced by John Fraser
Engineered by Ben Connellan
Release date: October 2012
Total duration: 0 minutes 59 seconds

Cover artwork: Le Palais da Mula (1908). Claude Monet (1840-1926)
Private Collection / Photo © Christie's Images / Bridgeman Images

Schatten

Steven Isserlis (cello)

Reviews

Introduction