December 17, 2009: The Isserlis-Gerstein duo returns to San Francisco

On Sunday, January 10 at Herbst Theatre, cellist Steven Isserlis and pianist Kirill Gerstein will give a recital at 7 PM under the auspices of San Francisco Performances.  This will be their second duo appearance for San Francisco Performances, the first having been in May of 2007 (which, coincidentally, was one month after Marino Formenti gave his first series of piano recitals for San Francisco Performances).  However, neither performer is a stranger to San Francisco.  When Gustavo Dudamel made his debut conducting the San Francisco Symphony at Davies Symphony Hall in March of 2008, Gerstein was the soloist in the first half of the program, performing Sergei Rachmaninoff's first piano concerto (his Opus 1).  While many dismissed this as a rather disappointing way for two such capable artists to present themselves to the Davies audience, I looked through the other end of the telescope at what I called "a work that is not 'up there' among the recognized masterpieces."  I felt that taking on a work that lacked such "masterpiece credentials" was a real test of performance skill;  and Gerstein (as well as Dudamel) emerged from that test with flying colors.

This past September Isserlis was here under somewhat more amenable circumstances, performing Joseph Haydn's C major cello concerto (Hoboken VIIb/1) with Philharmonia Baroque under its Music Director Nicholas McGegan and conducting a Master Class at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music based entirely on movements from three of the unaccompanied cello suites by Johann Sebastian Bach, all music with impeccable "masterpiece credentials!"  The program he and Gerstein have prepared for next month will involve somewhat less familiar material:

• Benjamin Britten:  Sonata for Cello and Piano in C Major, Opus 65
• Robert Schumann:  Violin Sonata No. 3 (arranged for cello by Isserlis)
• Sergei Rachmaninoff:  Sonata in G minor for Piano and Cello, Opus 19

Note the ordering in the Rachmaninoff sonata.  When this work was performed in the Noontime Concerts™ series at Old St. Mary's Cathedral last October, I noted that its Wikipedia entry cited a remark by record producer John Culshaw claiming that Rachmaninoff disliked calling it a cello sonata because he thought the two instruments were equal.  Personally, the work struck me more as a piano sonata with cello obbligato;  but it would not surprise me if Isserlis and Gerstein, both strong personalities, will achieve the sort of equality of voices that Rachmaninoff supposedly had in mind.

The decision to arrange Schumann's last violin sonata is particularly interesting.  While Schumann's cello concerto holds a secure place in the repertoire, he never composed a cello sonata.  Indeed, his only solo instrument sonatas are the three he composed for violin;  and the third is his last piece of chamber music.  The work is seldom performed;  so the opportunity to listen to it will be welcome, even if the experience will be mediated by its arrangement for cello.

The Britten sonata is also seldom heard, and I know it personally only from the Etcetera CD recording by Alexander Baillie and Ian Brown.  Perhaps the deepest impression the work made on me had to do with my interest in the "raw materials" of sound and the approach that Britten took to having the cello arpeggiate through natural harmonics.  I was also struck by the observation in the anonymous notes for this recording that the work was composed in January of 1961, which probably puts it closely before Britten began work in his War Requiem.  In this case I feel I am long overdue for listening to this work without the intervention of recording technology.

Tickets for this recital are available for $49 and $32.  Further information may be obtained by calling San Francisco Performances at 415-392-2545.  The link for purchasing tickets online may be found in the January area of the Calendar Web page for San Francisco Performances.