Bruce Hodges attends a performance of Beethoven, Martinů, Nadia Boulanger, Grieg and Fauré at the Perelman Theater, Philadelphia, PA, US, on 10 February 2025
It has been a long time since I’ve attended a recital with a more fiery point of view, but that’s what Steven Isserlis offered to a packed Philadelphia audience, along with pianist Connie Shih.
Beethoven’s Cello Sonata op.5 no.2 was marked by extremes. During the first movement, a whisper-quiet passage was even more striking with the cellist’s steely focus – his gaze locked on a spot somewhere above the audience. And to conclude the second movement, both artists barrelled their way to the finish line – not everyone’s ideal, but the point of view proved exhilarating. Perhaps more listeners might respond to Beethoven when done less politely.
Martinů’s First Cello Sonata was breathlessly malevolent, with distraught emotion at the beginning, a pensive centre and then a finale that blazed like a comet. At some points, emotion triumphed over accuracy, but the audience was definitely in the cellist’s corner.
After the interval came Nadia Boulanger’s Three Pieces for cello and piano, with sparkling contrasts that were the most cleanly and plainly presented of anything on the programme. But intensity returned for the last work, Grieg’s A minor Cello Sonata, which seemed almost angry in places – stirring and moving, but with a distinct edge. Shih made an ideal partner for the cellist’s dramatic flourishes, and again, the audience gasped in delight at the finish line.
As an encore, the duo did a complete about-face, offering Fauré’s Berceuse op.16, in tender, plaintive counterpoint to the earlier whirlwind.
BRUCE HODGES
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