With a list of impressive orchestral credentials as lengthy as cellist
Susanne Beer, one might expect great things of standard repertoire works for cello and piano. At the very least,
Beer's extensive background as an orchestral cellist would seem to all but guarantee a technically proficient and well-in tune performance. Imagine the shock, then, of hearing her shockingly weak performance of
Stravinsky's Suite Italienne, one of many arrangements of "Pulcinella" the composer made. Intonation ranges from adequate to poor, and sound quality is forced and brutal, and the balance between piano and cello is sub-par. The situation slightly improves with the
Debussy sonata. Here,
Beer's sound quality is much improved over the
Stravinsky. Intonation is also closer to what might be expected, though far from flawless. Balance issues with the piano remain, however, and
Beer's lower register is often buried. The dense piano scoring of Brahms' Second Cello Sonata makes these balance issues even more insurmountable. The overall impression for the album is one of haste, lack of refinement, sufficient rehearsal time, and attention to detail resulting in a startlingly amateurish disc.