LITTLE ROCK — Cellist Zuill Bailey and pianist Simone Dinnerstein should be at least moderately familiar to Arkansas audiences. He has soloed a couple of times with the Arkansas Symphony, and she played her chart-topping interpretation of J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations in Hot Springs. Recital partners for a decade, they recorded the first three Beethoven cello-piano sonatas together for Denon in 2006.
Telarc has just released Beethoven: Complete Works for Cello and Piano on a twodisc set that includes all five of the sonatas plus three sets of variations on operatic themes by Handel and Mozart. It traverses all three of his creative periods - two early works(op.5 Nos. 1 and 2), one middle (op.69) and two late (op.102 Nos. 1 and 2).
Just about everything on these two discs really makes one grieve for the cello concerto Beethoven never wrote. The musicians appear to be having fun on every bit of these recordings, and you should have just as much fun listening as they did playing.
Especially enjoyable:
The rather rowdy gallop in the "Rondo" finale of the Sonata No. 1 in F major.
The dramatic first movement of the symphonically structured, four-movement A majorthird sonata (one of my favorite chamber-music moments), and also that sonata's finale, which takes off like a house afire from the short "Adagio cantabile" that precedes it.
Whether the players consciously stress them or not, there are many welcome echoes of the Triple Concerto, op.56, for piano, violin and cello in this performance - more so, even, than of the Fifth and Sixth symphonies, which are its nearest neighbors in Beethoven's canon.
The good-natured variations on two arias from Mozart's The Magic Flute, particularly those on Papageno's "Ein Madchen oder ein Weibchen" ("A maiden or a little wife").
The gorgeous, swellingfrom-simple-to-majesticand-back "Andante" opening movement of the C major fourth sonata, which transitions nonstop into the boisterous minor-key "Allegro vivace" second movement. Bailey and Dinnerstein also play the "Allegro con brio" final movement with brio to spare.
The charming opening of the "Allegro con brio" first movement of the final sonata, in D major, and its intensely fugal finale.
The tempos are spot-on throughout and the pair make the most out of Beethoven's dynamics at every turn.
A little close miking on the cello enables you in places to hear Bailey breathe as he plays (but not Dinnerstein, unless they're breathing together, which wouldn't be that surprising in chamber-music partners who fit well); it kind of gives these studio recordings the feel of a live performance.
Rating: A E-mail:
Style, Pages 60 on 09/20/2009