Belying its young composer’s reputation as the enfant terrible of early Soviet music, ‘the most popular cello sonata of the twentieth century’—Steven Isserlis’s verdict on the Shostakovich—takes its place alongside two other Russian masterpieces, from pre-Revolutionary Prokofiev to Kabalevsky in the Khrushchev era.
‘Isserlis and Mustonen make a strong case for [the Kabalevsky Sonata] in a performance of grand gestures that proves a real roller coaster ride. Isserlis’s intensity and Mustonen’s pianistic weight su ...
BBC Music Magazine
‘In the Shostakovich Cello Sonata, Isserlis provides the lyrical narrative. He’s the storyteller—whispering, coaxing, singing and soaring—with Mustonen providing the turbulent counterpoint … play ...
BBC Music Magazine‘In the Shostakovich Cello Sonata, Isserlis provides the lyrical narrative. He’s the storyteller—whispering, coaxing, singing and soaring—with Mustonen providing the turbulent counterpoint … play ...