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Review: Malvern Theatres Shostakovitch cello concerto N2 2009

Cohen was a masterful soloist, absolutely commanding throughout, whether playing quietly or battling against the many outbursts of the large percussion section. In the finale the sense of anguish was palpable as the few recurring moments of orchestral warmth were extinguished, leaving the soloist with his defiant final sustained note. This concert was an emotional journey that will live in the memories of those who heard it for a long time.

Reviewed by Colin Anderson

The lavishly talented David Cohen has been Principal Cello of the Philharmonia Orchestra since 2001 and has impressed in that role. In tackling the Everest of cello concertos, Dvorák’s, Cohen scaled its heights impressively and ardently, and also with a poise and rhapsody, without imposing on the music. The concerto had been as well-prepared as the overture and symphony (meticulously); rarely has it been so apparent as to how the writing for woodwinds and horns complements the cellist and what a feast it is in itself. This was a wonderfully integrated performance (beautifully balanced, Dohnányi occasionally visibly restraining the brass), one of teamwork and virtuoso solos, from Cohen of course and also Kenneth Smith (flute) and Elspeth Dutch (horn), that revealed the work’s depth and scale as well as its craft, heart, nostalgia, stirring rhetoric and sadness.

Classical sources

David Cohen & Olga Sitkovetsky at Wigmore Hall

Bach Suite in G for unaccompanied cello, BWV1007?Schubert Sonata in A minor for Arpeggione and Piano, D821?Cassadó Suite for Solo Cello?Grieg Sonata in A minor for Cello and Piano, Op.36

David Cohen (cello) & Olga Sitkovetsky (piano)

Wigmore Hall, London??Wednesday, June 25, 2008 

Under the auspices of Oleg Kagan’s Razumovsky Trust, this recital by the Philharmonia Orchestra’s principal cellist David Cohen offered an enjoyable mixture of compositional styles. With help from the Trust, Cohen has been able to secure a 1735 Domenico Montagnana cello, and showed its breadth of tone in unaccompanied Bach.

Here Cohen was relatively liberal with tempo and rhythm, with a particularly relaxed ‘Allemande’ and ‘Sarabande’. In the ‘Prelude’ his decision not to slur’ many notes in one bow led to a less fluid approach, meaning the cumulative tension that rises towards the final bars was lost. Occasionally he overdid rubato, with both ‘Menuets’ pulled around too much to have a common meter, but the affection he clearly feels for music could be felt, particularly in a hushed repeat of the first section of the ‘Sarabande’.

In Schubert’s Sonata for the five-stringed now-extinct arpeggione, the dance aspect could again have been exploited more, especially in the second themes of the outer movements, with their potential for a rustic flavour and rhythmic vitality. Schubert’s writing for the five-string instrument transcribes well to cello but makes demands on the player’s command of the high register. Here Cohen’s technique was impeccable, a strong tone maintained in even the highest passages. Olga Sitkovetsky acquitted herself extremely well in a sensitive accompaniment, shaping the first-movement theme nicely while providing a lilt to the slow movement. If the finale was a little too straight, Schubert’s humour well beneath the surface, the dance-theme acquired a forthright air as it reached the ‘home’ key.

If Cohen was holding back slightly in the Bach and Schubert, caution was thrown to the wind in a highly expressive performance of Gaspar Cassadó’s rarely heard Suite. A pupil of Pablo Casals, the Spanish cellist Cassadó (1897-1966) seems to have taken his lead from the Solo Sonata of Kodály, both in a prolific use of multiple-stopping and the incorporation of folk-inflected themes, in this case Catalan, to the music. Cohen was extremely convincing here, with a firm, heavily ornamented declaration setting the tone in the ‘Preludio’. There followed a surging ‘Sardana’ (a Catalan dance), while the passionate solo lines of ‘Intermezzo’ gave way to a powerful yet controlled dance finale, the multiple-stopping firm and clear.

Sitkovetsky rejoined Cohen for a commanding performance of Grieg’s Cello Sonata, and successfully resisted the impulse to take over in the virtuoso piano part, her upward, arpeggiated sweeps calculated and held within. Cohen’s phrasing was broad and well-suited to Grieg’s melodic contours, conveying the restlessness of the first movement’s theme, which was quelled in the stillness of Sitkovetsky’s slower response.

This is very much a duo-sonata, with balance and structure extremely well-observed and songful episodes exploited for their lyric potential. Humour, too – the finale’s triadic theme played off between the two musicians until it became something of an angry dispute in the central section, returning to something carefree.

As a generous encore, the two played Paganini’s Variations on a Theme of Rossini’, a display piece designed to be played solely on the cello’s ‘A’ string in Maurice Gendron’s arrangement. Cohen sparkled in his characterisations, whether at speed or in slower, lyrical sweeps, the quickness of the hands sometimes outwitting us in the audience in this energetic performance.

Saturday, Wigmore hall recital April 02, 2005

Yehudi Menuhin was quoted on the programme’s front page as considering David Cohen, the Philharmonia Orchestra’s 24-year-old co-principal, as one of the most talented cellists. This recital demonstrated both performers’ considerable abilities as well as poetic and mature qualities.

Debussy’s many-sided Sonata, with its slightly cringe-worthy programme of Pierrot unhappily in love with the moon, the moods spontaneously switched between solemn and facetious narrative poses. Though relatively brief, this music brought out Cohen’s main gift: to be receptive and sympathetic to the mood-swings. And the first of two encores, Paganini’s Variations on one string, highlighted this from a humorous perspective, leaving a thoroughly charming impression of both musicians; Olga Sitkovetsky filled her role nearly perfectly: a firm and powerful touch in solos, and lyrical in accompanying mode. Timing between the two displayed an admirable sense of communication.

The other two sonatas (including Franck’s own transcription of his Violin Sonata) both proved good choices, the tragic undertones of Shostakovich’s work giving a sumptuous sample of the cello’s possibilities. In the Franck, opened by the piano’s elegiac solo pianist, Cohen soon took over with his ‘gently weeping’ cello. The technical challenges of the Allegro presented Cohen with the chance to present his singing line; even the violent trills on the lowest string were performed with gentleness and elegance. The slow movement was the dreamily, melancholic highpoint. With Cohen resting his head on the cello’s corpus, the finale became emotionally charged, the audience holding their breaths for five long seconds after the last chord.

With Shostakovich’s Sonata the evening took a somewhat wilder turn, introducing elements of Russian folklore in the second and last movements as well as deep gloom in the Largo. The first movement was performed with sensitivity for the piece’s structuring and, as in the Debussy, for the varying moods. The second movement, one of the more folksy parts of this piece, found the two musicians grooving congenially along. Cohen produced some immaculate flageolet slides.

One of Astor Piazzolla’s finest attempts at introducing Tango into classical music, the Grand Tango of 1982 closed the evening. As the programme states, this “tour de force in style and technique requires an impeccable sense of rhythm in the first section, sensuality in the second section and ardent passion in the powerful finale”. All requirements were richly met.

Messeian Qurtet for the end of time recording

This is a fantastic recording of a twentieth-century masterpiece, with some world-class playing throughout.