Noémie Raymond | Zhenni Li-Cohen: Dialogues

By now, thanks in large part to the radio play a certain British musical family is getting, the Cello Sonata in G minor Op. 19 by Sergei Rachmaninoff is suddenly one of the most famous chamber works in the world. The fact is that the outstanding recording of this piece on Muse [Decca, 2021] by cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason and his pianist sister Isata Kanneh-Mason is – of course – not the only one in existence. The prodigiously gifted cellist Hee-Young Lim also recorded a version on her Russian Cello Sonatas [Sony, 2020] – with the pianist Nathalia Milstein – that ‘married poetry and power’. There are, no doubt several other recordings, each with its own appeal.*

However, one as spectacular as this recording by cellist Noémie Raymond and pianist Zhenni Li-Cohen on their disc Dialogues has graced our memories; certainly not for a considerable length of time. One is apt to ask. “Why?” Is it the existential power of the Rachmaninoff sonata? Or is the pairing of that extraordinary work with Viola Sonata [1919] by Rebecca Clarke, transcribed here for cello and piano? The answer is: both of the above. Add to that the eloquence of the performance of both works – likely a definitive interpretation of Clarke’s fiendishly challenging sonata and you have a disc to die for.

First things first: Miss Raymond and Miss Li-Cohen’s performance of the Rachmaninoff sonata – expertly incorporating the secrets of the instrument imparted to the composer by his friend Anatoliy Brandukov, who first performed – is a masterpiece experienced in a mirror reflecting the dark and light of the very soul of the composer. After a brief introduction, Miss Raymond cello expresses the opening movement’s great yearning with a dark eloquence.

The handover to Miss Li-Cohen’s pianism is graceful and she carries off the musical baton, so to speak, with exquisite articulation. Thereafter the piano is the dominant partner, and only in the elegiac Andante – one of Rachmaninoff’s greatest achievements – does Miss Raymond’s cello come back into its own. The lusciously dark tonality of Miss Raymond’s beautiful instrument appears to be eminently suited to Rachmaninoff’s state of mind at the time of the work’s writing.

This is a surging, urgent performance: the outer movements are dashed  off with considerable passion – not the least because of Miss Raymond’s psychological grasp of the [extra-musical] qualities of darkness and light, while the Andante is emotional assault is traversed with dignity as well as triumphally, great feeling.

The performance of Clarke’s seminal work for her instrument – the viola – is not only brilliantly transcribed, but also receives a hair-raisingly marvelous rendition – completely attuned to Clarke’s vision and artistry. Miss Raymond and Miss Li-Cohen take Clake’s calling card and make it their own, while reverentially evoking the great – sadly all-but-neglected – mastery of Clarke’s genius as a composer.

Again, the dark tones of Miss Raymond’s cello are pivotal to the performance of the work. This time, however, she uses her enigmatically burnished tonality to express – in the first, Impetuoso – ma non troppo allegro movement – a lyrical and harmonic language that Clarke conjured from Claude Debussy and Ralph Vaughan-Williams. This is especially true of Clarke’s chromatic language, expressed in modes and whole-tone scales, relocated in this description to the lower gravitas of the cello.

The Vivace movement is an compelling experience, vibrant cello is poised and often duels with the unpredictable edge to Miss Li-Cohen piano, negotiating Clarke’s use of special harmonic devices and elegant pizzicato. The dazzling work concludes with the extraordinary sensuality that Clarke imparts to it as she reinstates the themes from the first movement. Miss Raymond and Miss Li-Cohen each capture – with a flourish – the lush and magisterial pyrotechnics that Clarke wrote in for both viola and piano parts.

Miss Raymond and Miss Li-Cohen’s noble performances of both sonatas ought to make this disc the first choice among modern recordings. Their searching, introspective accounts of both works is outstanding – arguably one of the most compelling cello-piano performances, despite the myriad of great historical performances available on disc through the decades.

*For historically-minded aficionados some of these are Mstislav Rostropovich and Alexander Dedyukhin [1958], Lynn Harrell and Vladimir Ashkenazy [1984], Yo-Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax [1990], Steven Isserlis and Stephen Hough [2002], Mischa Maisky and Sergio Tiempo [2005] and, of course, Jean-Guihen Queyras and Alexander Melnikov [2022].

^{Deo gratis…}

Music – Sergei Rachmaninoff [1873-1943] – Cello Sonata in G minor Op. 19 – 1 I. Lento – Allegro moderato; 2 II. Allegro scherzando; 3 III. Andante; 4 IV. Allegro mosso. Rebecca Clarke [1886-1979] – Viola Sonata [version for cello and piano] 5 I. Impetuoso – ma non troppo allegro; 6 II. Vivace; 7 III. Adagio.

Musicians – Noémie Raymond: vc; Zhenni Li-Cohen: p.

Released: 2024
Label: Leaf Music [LM295]
[leaf-music.ca]
Runtime: 1:04:37

Published on Oct 1, 2024
By Raul da Gama on World Music Report