Bohuslav Martinů - Cello Sonatas (Steven Isserlis; Olli Mustonen)

Information

Composer: Bohuslav Martinů; Olli Mustonen; Jean Sibelius

• Martinů - Cello Sonata No. 1, H 277
• Mustonen - Cello Sonata
• Martinů - Cello Sonata No. 2, H 286
• Sibelius - Malinconia, Op. 20
• Martinů - Cello Sonata No. 3, H 340

Steven Isserlis, cello

Olli Mustonen, piano

Date: 2014

Label: BIS

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Review

This CD recommends itself. Cellist Steven Isserlis has recorded Martinů’s three excellent sonatas. His accompanist is composer Olli Mustonen, a master of the idiom who also contributes his own recent sonata to the program. There’s another substantial bonus in Malinconia, a powerfully dark cello piece by Jean Sibelius. It’s all recorded in a hybrid SACD by the BIS engineers.

 

Those facts alone make it an important release. I feel like my job is simply to let you know that the album exists, so you can look for it. In case you need to read anything else, Isserlis delivers the goods in his usual highly impassioned, expressive style; consider the Sibelius piece, which dates from 1900 but foreshadows the grim, violent power of the Fourth Symphony. It was written after the death of the composer’s daughter, and makes the listener share his grief.

 

Isserlis writes useful, detailed notes on the fifteen-minute sonata Olli Mustonen composed, which fits into the program well. That is to say, it shares with Martinů a focus on emotional ambivalence and internal conflict, plus excellent craftsmanship. The second movement is a sort of scherzo-in-reverse, slower material bookending an incredibly virtuosic, spinning cello part. We then get the real scherzo, and a finale that at last offers us a long, breathtaking melody teased upward into the highest notes Isserlis can play.

 

The three Martinů cello sonatas are from late in his career, the first two dating from 1939 and 1941. The first sonata cycles through many moods, with a haunting slow movement that the booklet rightly calls “funereal.” It was premiered by a dream team: Pierre Fournier and Rudolf Firkusný. The second sonata has a lot in common with his symphonies: the opening piano statement sounds reduced from an orchestral original, and the main melodies could have been deployed in the Third or Fourth symphonies. There’s masterful drama in the dialogue and conflict between these instruments; it’s a troubled, brilliant piece that alternates between easy lyricism and abrupt outpourings, with a hint of triumph in the finale.

 

The third sonata is the most lyrical, and the happiest, with the shadows of wartime years into the past. The finale in particular is a joy, with an unexpected baroque-style piano cadenza. It provides an affirming conclusion to the recital. BIS’s sound is as excellent as ever, and Mustonen and Isserlis have an easy chemistry. Isserlis reports in his liner notes that they’ve been friends since they pulled pranks on one another in school days, and I wonder if the cover photo is another prank. Either way, I hope it’s not the last of this partnership on record. This disc is outstanding, just as you’d expect.

 

— Brian Reinhart

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Bohuslav Martinů (December 8, 1890 – August 28, 1959) was a Czech composer of modern classical music. He was a violinist in the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, and briefly studied under Czech composer and violinist Josef Suk. Martinů was a prolific composer who wrote almost 400 pieces. Many of his works are regularly performed or recorded, among them his oratorio The Epic of Gilgamesh, his six symphonies, concertos, chamber music, a flute sonata, a clarinet sonatina and many others. Martinů's notable students include Alan Hovhaness, Vítězslava Kaprálová, Jan Novák and many others.

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Steven Isserlis (born 19 December 1958) is a British cellist recognized for his exceptional artistry as a soloist, chamber musician, educator and author. Widely regarded as one of the leading musicians of his generation, he is celebrated for his expressive playing, distinctive tone, and commitment to a broad and diverse repertoire. His use of gut strings also contributes to his unique sound. Isserlis has received many accolades, including two Gramophone Awards, a Classical BRIT Award, a BBC Music Magazine Award, and two Grammy nominations. He performs on the 1726 Marquis de Corberon cello by Antonio Stradivari.

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Olli Mustonen (born 7 June 1967) is a Finnish pianist, conductor and composer. He studied harpsichord and piano with Ralf Gothóni, and composition under Einojuhani Rautavaara. Mustonen's debut recording, featuring preludes by Shostakovich and Alkan, won a Gramophone Award in 1992. Since then he has recorded extensively for labels like Decca, RCA and Ondine, performing with leading international orchestras. He is also co-founder and director of the Helsinki Festival Orchestra. As a composer, his music reflects 20th-century idioms while drawing on influences from the 17th and 18th centuries.

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