Music for Cello and Piano

DEBUSSY Cello Sonata in d. RACHMANINOFF Cello Sonata in g. STRAVINSKY Suite Italienne . Suren Bagratuni (vc); Andrian Oetiker (pn). BLUE GRIFFIN 105 (68:37)
The news here is not the meal itself-a selection from three of the basic food groups that has been served up on disc many times before, though perhaps not in this exact combination-but its preparation and presentation. Heretofore, I had not heard of Blue Griffin Recording, a Lansing, Michigan-based company, or of either of these artists, Armenian born cellist Suren Bagratuni, and Swiss-born pianist Adrian Oetiker. Bagratuni won the Silver Medal at the 1986 International Tchaikovsky Competition while still a student at the Moscow Conservatory. He has since appeared with major orchestras and in recital on five continents. Oetiker is also a prize-winner, having won the ARD International Piano Competition in Munich in 1995. He, too, has performed widely throughout Europe and the US.
Strictly speaking, this CD is not brand new. Its copyright date is given as 2001, but actual recording dates are 1998 for the Rachmaninoff, 1999 for the Debussy, and 2000 for the Stravinsky. The Rachmaninoff and Stravinsky were both recorded in Krannert Center at the University of Illinois, Urbana. The Debussy was recorded at the Tonhalle in St. Gallen, Switzerland.
As suggested above, recordings of all of these works are in ample supply, the Rachmaninoff leading the pack with some three-dozen entries. A recent favorite of mine has been an EMI CD issued from Martha Argerich's Lugano Festival. The performance features pianist Lilya Zilberstein and French cellist Gautier Capuyon, whose partnering with his violinist brother, Renaud, and pianist Nicholas Angelich in Brahms's piano trios I drooled over in Fanfare 28: 1. I do not wish to compare recordings of these works, however, for I find the present release from Blue Griffin more than worthy of attention. Bagratuni's cello has a bright, vibrant tone, full-throated and powerful where it needs to be, but never with any sense of forcing or graininess. His musicianship is impeccable, and the Rachmaninoff, in particular is given a rapt reading.
Oetiker's piano, likewise, is sonorous and solid, with an especially tight bass that permits a clean and clear presentation of harmonic complexities. This is of particular interest in the Debussy, for it argues persuasively against a view of the composer's music as an Impressionistic wash of indistinct lines and pastel colors. To quote from Richard D. Uren's booklet note: "The guitar-like chords strummed by the cello in the second and third movements evoke Spanish flamenco music. The piano writing is often caustic and biting in nature." A number of recent recordings of Debussy's music, such as Roy Howatt's traversal of the complete piano works for Tall Poppies, are revising our understanding of this seminal composer.
Curiously, recordings of Stravinsky's Suite Italienne for cello and piano today outnumber those for violin and piano, the duo for which it was originally scored. Perhaps its popularity among cellists has to do with the fact that Gregor Piatigorsky had a hand in its arrangement. If you don't already know the piece, it's much in the same style as Stravinsky's neo-Baroquish Pulcinella, based on the music of Pergolesi.
Whether or not you already have one or more recordings of these three works in your collection, this Blue Griffin Recording release is well worth the capital outlay. It is a beautifully played and superbly recorded program, one that has given me a great deal of pleasure, and one that I know I shall replay many times.