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Reviews: Kodaly, Ravel, Schulhoff: Duos for violin & cello - Liza & Dmitry Ferschtman

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Reviews: 1

Review by Nagraboy November 26, 2012 (9 of 9 found this review helpful)
Performance:   Sonics:  
This is a stunning disc of violin and cello works by 20th century composers. It is one of the most amazing sounding SACDs I've heard. But first the music...

It was a few years ago when I first heard the Kodály Duo for Violin and Cello composed in 1914 on a McIntosh demo SACD with Janos Starker playing the cello and I was amazed at the style of music having never heard anything like it before. The conversational dialogue between the two instruments is incredibly beautiful and powerful. The way they call and respond and echo each other is captivating. It has you on the edge of your seat, sort of pulling and pushing you along in its musical current.

The other two pieces on this disc are new to me but equally thrilling. The Ravel Sonata for Violin and Violoncello from 1920/22 is another virtuoso showcase exhibiting all the techniques available to the best violin and cello players. I marvel at the skill and drama they produce, I'm struggling for words here - you've really got to hear this!

Erwin Schulhoff's piece from 1925, the Duo for violin and violoncello, is the final piece on this disc. The top-class playing continues. It's a piece of great sensitivity with lots of delicate quiet passages and thrusting rhythmical parts too. The two instruments are sometimes supporting one another, sometimes playing totally independently.

The musicianship of Liza and Dmitry Ferschtman is virtuoso and heartfelt throughout this disc and I can barely imagine better playing than this pair give us here.

As I said at the beginning, this is one if the best-sounding SACDs I've heard. Northstar Recording Services have done it again in this DSD recording. The string tone has clarity and smoothness with no grating harshness, even if the music is certainly 'spiky'! It's so well-recorded that the subtlest of sounds are there to help convey the tension and emotion present in the pieces, including breathing sounds which I don't find intrusive but I'm sure some could object to if being picky, but I won't mark down for that. Listening via my Stax Omegas, there is just the right balance between direct instrumental sound and the recording space itself. On speakers it sounds big, warm and adventurous.

Very much recommended especially if you're looking to branch out from more standard Classical fare.

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