November 23, 2009: Rostropovich in Aldeburgh

My recent enthusiasm for in-concert recordings of the late cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, promoted primarily through the Complete EMI Recordings Rostropovich box of 25 CDs, 13 of which come from recordings made in Russia, now has another outlet.  The BBC Legends series of CDs produced by Medici Arts Limited, presumably from material originally broadcast on the BBC, has a new release that draws upon two recitals given at the Parish Church in Aldeburgh.  Since the recordings were made on June 14 and 20, 1964, they were presumably part of that summer's Aldeburgh Music Festival;  and at the June 14 performance Rostropovich was accompanied by Benjamin Britten.  His accompanist on June 20 was Sviatoslav Richter;  so, no matter how you choose to approach this material, it offers a pretty awesome collection of performers.  Note that this was a time when Rostropovich was just beginning to built an international reputation through tours taken with the permission of the Soviet government.

The one composition on this disc that overlaps the EMI collection is the Opus 40 cello sonata in D major by Dmitri Shostakovich.  Shostakovich himself accompanied Rostropovich, but we know little about the specific performance circumstances, other than the recording having been made at Radio House in Moscow.  No date is given, nor do we know if the performance took place before an audience.  The music itself was probably Viktor Kubatsky's 1960 edition of the original 1934 score, which apparently reflected (with Shostakovich's blessing) tempo modifications that Rostropovich took in his performances.

The relationship between Britten and Shostakovich was a good one.  They dedicated works to each other, and Britten gave the first United Kingdom performance of Shostakovich's fourteenth symphony.  Britten's accompaniment for Rostropovich reflects his esteem for Shostakovich, and he is particularly good at capturing the sardonic wit that pierces through the second and fourth movements.  Shostakovich was in the good graces of the Soviet government while working on this sonata;  and there are even gestures that seem to honor the rhetoric of his older colleague, Sergei Prokofiev.

The two sonatas recorded on June 20 are the first of the two by Johannes Brahms, Opus 38 in E minor, and the Opus 36 sonata by Edvard Grieg.  Both of these performances are rich with the rhetoric of the nineteenth century, and the Grieg sonata triggers memories of several of his earlier compositions.  As can be anticipated, Brahms receives a rather introspective approach (but not a subdued one), while the Grieg is more flamboyant.  Both performances serve their respective composers well, providing enlightening glances into items in Rostropovich's repertoire not covered by his work with EMI.