Quietly Moved by Sol Gabetta’s Recording of Rachmaninoff’s Cello Sonata

Yesterday, NHK-FM Best of Classic broadcast the fourth instalment of their Promising Cellists series, featuring a cello recital by Sol Gabetta — a young Argentine female cellist. I happened to put it on rather casually, as I usually do, but her playing turned out to be very much to my taste. It was truly wonderful, so I am jotting down a note here as a reminder to myself.

Sol Gabetta was born in 1981. Like Argerich, she is an Argentine-born female musician, though her parents are reportedly Russian-French. The recording venue for this broadcast was the Monastery of Olsberg in Switzerland — a live recording from the Solsberg Festival, which she herself organises. Incidentally, Ms Gabetta studied violin and cello through the Suzuki Method, and as a child apparently played a Japanese-made children’s cello. Her current instrument is a Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume dated 1865.

As I had tuned in partway through the broadcast, I caught the latter part of Shostakovich’s Cello Sonata in D minor, Op. 40, and then the Rachmaninoff Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 19 in full — and particularly the Rachmaninoff! Her playing had a feminine suppleness and richness of colour, neither harsh nor dark, and I found myself thinking, so this is such a romantic and beautiful piece after all.

I immediately found myself searching everywhere for a CD of her playing the same work. But for some reason, Sol Gabetta’s discography has tended toward orchestral repertoire, and I have the impression there hasn’t been much with piano accompaniment or piano duo… or rather, to be honest, I had always vaguely assumed she was one of those cover-sells-the-CD type of idol cellists you see these days, and hadn’t paid her much attention. Not that she’s an exceptional beauty in the idol sense of the word — more of a cute type, perhaps — but she has apparently been a popular figure among female cellists in the classical section of Amazon UK for some time. When I heard a little of her on YouTube before, I came away with a reasonably good impression, but somehow I kept passing her by, so I don’t own a single one of her CDs…

Having heard this live broadcast, I find her style so much to my liking that I am tempted to complete the entire set of released CDs. There is something about her playing that calls to mind a young Ofra Harnoy… though Sol Gabetta’s playing is perhaps more firmly grounded.

I can never quite keep track of what CDs I already own, so I tried a keyword search through my received emails, but nothing came up… though of course, anything bought in person or handed over directly wouldn’t show up either. Good grief, I really must start collecting her… RCA/SONY/DG have released around 11 to 12 titles so far, but buying the lot would have the banknotes flying out of my wallet even with imports.

Muttering all this to myself, I kept searching around and — there it was! The Rachmaninoff Cello Sonata!

I tried listening to the sample audio first, and… hmm, not quite? Since it is only a sample, I cannot say anything definitive, but perhaps because of the narrow sound quality, I don’t quite feel the same sense of wonder or the richly shaded colour that came through in the live broadcast… or so it seems. It sounds like it would be pleasant for quiet listening, but, well, I’m in two minds about buying it. At times like this I regret having given up the habit of recording broadcasts off the air. Incidentally, the piano accompaniment in the broadcast was Bertrand Chamayou, while on the CD it is Olga Kern. The first half of the disc — the Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1 — feels even more indeterminate to me… I have a feeling the CD with the Concerto No. 2 and the Cello Sonata would be far more vivid and satisfying.

Bertrand Chamayou from France — in his solo CD work, as opposed to his live accompaniment in this broadcast — strikes me as rather too in step with current interpretative fashion, which I find slightly off-putting, though personally I don’t dislike him at all. Russia’s Olga Kern, frankly, is not to my taste… which is odd, given that I usually have a soft spot for the Russian school. Perhaps that is influencing things.

As I always do, I went through the rest of Sol Gabetta’s CDs and listened to samples (being as keen as I am not to pick up something disappointing, I played things through multiple times), then ranked them below roughly in order of how much I liked them.

Variations on a Rococo Theme ~ Sol Gabetta Debut! ← This might be the best of the lot, for now.

Vivaldi Cello Concertos: Il Progetto Vivaldi Vol. 3, Vol. 2, Vol. 1.

Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 2, Cello Sonata ← The recording quality sounded promising, so I went ahead and ordered it. I’ll add a review once it arrives. I’m rather fond of Shostakovich, but the problem is that his music is acoustically so full-on that it can be difficult to play back, and it’s not really usable as background music either.

This one also has the benefit of Deutsche Grammophon’s production quality, and is essential listening for anyone who loves pianist Hélène Grimaud. Though the cello and piano do seem to have swapped roles as far as who is the soloist goes… The Japanese pressing is in SHM-CD format.

The first disc mentioned earlier — the Shostakovich Concerto No. 1 and the Rachmaninoff Cello Sonata. I described it as indeterminate compared to the live performance, but in terms of sound quality it is easy to listen to and decently put together, and in relative terms I don’t think it’s bad at all. This one is on SONY Classical rather than RCA, for some reason.

Cantabile (Snyr) — The orchestral accompaniment on this disc is on the thin side and there are various question marks musically, but it does seem like it would make very pleasant background listening.

The cello concerto collection with Haydn, Hoffmann, and Mozart — the programme is absolutely irresistible, but… the recording and the orchestra are both hazy and thin. If I hadn’t sampled it first, I would certainly have bought this one first on the strength of the repertoire alone. What a near miss.

Peteris Vasks: Gramata Cellam — I thought it seemed strangely cheap, and that’s because it’s a single CD with just two tracks running 13 minutes. That was a close call… I nearly clicked buy on price alone. Listening to it, the music falls into the category of contemporary music that I honestly don’t quite follow, so I’ll leave this one unrated.

All of the above is based on sample audio played back on a PC, so how accurately I have been able to hear things is frankly rather questionable — but I am noting it here purely as a guide for my own future purchases.

It is a budget remaster, but unusually, the sound quality and musical character have actually improved over the import box set that came out previously. That said, the Japanese domestic pressings from around the 1990s are still the best-sounding of all.

When it comes to Vivaldi cello concertos, Ofra Harnoy has always been the definitive reference for me — I had long believed no performance could surpass hers — but Sol Gabetta’s playing has more refinement in various respects… or so it seems.

As for the piano accompaniment — or rather, the piano duo recording — there is the Schumann, Brahms, Debussy, and Shostakovich cello sonatas with Hélène Grimaud, released on Deutsche Grammophon, to which Grimaud is exclusively contracted. But I rather feel that these two musicians’ sensibilities — their tonal colours, if you like — don’t quite match. Though perhaps that deliberate contrast is the point? The programme itself is certainly an attractive assortment. Bertrand Chamayou, who accompanied her in yesterday’s broadcast, struck me as a much more harmonious partner.

NHK-FM, 12 June 2014, 19:30–21:10
Best of Classic — Promising Cellists (4)
“Lullaby,” “Warning,” “A Young Girl’s Song” from “From Jewish Folk Poetry”
Composed by Shostakovich
(7 min. 09 sec.)
(Cello) Sol Gabetta
(Piano) Bertrand Chamayou

“Cello Sonata in D minor, Op. 40” by Shostakovich
(27 min. 21 sec.)
(Cello) Sol Gabetta
(Piano) Bertrand Chamayou

“Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 19” by Rachmaninoff
(35 min. 00 sec.)
(Cello) Sol Gabetta
(Piano) Bertrand Chamayou

“Prayer” from “From Jewish Life” by Bloch
(2 min. 49 sec.)
(Cello) Sol Gabetta
(Piano) Bertrand Chamayou
~ Recorded at the Monastery of Olsberg, Switzerland ~
(22 June 2013)
(Provided by Swiss Broadcasting Corporation)

“Adagio and Variations” by Respighi
(11 min. 44 sec.)
(Cello) Sol Gabetta
(Orchestra) Danish National Symphony Orchestra
(Conductor) Mario Venzago
＜Sony Music Japan International SICC1-352＞