The list of works composed for and premiered by cellist
Mstislav Rostropovich is awe-inspiring in its sheer length. Among these masterworks id
Benjamin Britten's C major Sonata for Cello and Piano, the Three Suites for Solo Cello, and both of
Shostakovich's cello concertos. Although
Shostakovich's cello sonata was not written for
Rostropovich, he frequently performed the works together and made the benchmark recording of the work. This album features
Shostakovich's and
Britten's sonatas for cello and piano, as well as the third of
Britten's solo suites. Fittingly, they are performed by cellist
Karine Georgian who was herself a student of
Rostropovich. Despite this noble lineage from composer to
Rostropovich to student
Georgian, these performances are surprisingly uninspiring and rather dull.
Georgian plays with almost none of the power and intensity of her teacher and far less precision in intonation. Particularly in the
Shostakovich sonata,
Georgian comes across as disinterested in her own playing, simply playing one note after another. This quasi-detached state is slightly more acceptable in the two
Britten works, which do not rely quite so heavily on intensity and power of sound. All around, though, the entire album is quite bland and not a good choice as an archetypal recording of any of the works it contains.