Alexander Melnikov / Isabelle Faust SHOSTAKOVICH Piano Concertos - Sonata for Violin & Piano Op. 34

The programming of this recording by Alexander Melnikov seems to be no accident. The two large, witty, outward-looking piano concertos surround the more grave, inward-facing Violin Sonata the way a sonata's or concerto's two fast movements surround a slow movement. It's also a real reflection of Melnikov as a performer, schooled in the Russian tradition and mentored by Richter (the pianist of the first public performance of the Violin Sonata), who is as comfortable as a soloist as he is as a collaborative pianist playing chamber music. In that regard, Melnikov and Faust make their parts of the sonata equal partners in the music, bringing out the smallest details. It is generally held that the sonata is about death, and these two handle it with intensity and seriousness, but do not make it grim or frightful. In the concertos, Melnikov and conductor Teodor Currentzis are also well matched. In the slow movements, especially of the Concerto No. 2, Melnikov's touch is so soft and phrasing so lyrical as to give the music a sweetness normally associated with a Rachmaninov or Ravel concerto, and Currentzis follows his lead. The animation in the fast movements, where Shostakovich likes to use rapidly repeated notes, is not pointedly sharp, but is impressive and extremely engaging nonetheless. The finale of Concerto No. 1, when everyone -- including the very precise trumpeter Jeroen Berwaerts -- gets going together is almost precipitously exciting. Yet it is Melnikov's sensitivity of touch that distinguishes his performance of these works from others'. (Patsy Morita)

Alexander Melnikov PAUL HINDEMITH Sonatas for...

If there is a Cinderella among Hindemith’s three dozen(ish) sonatas, it’s not that for double bass, tuba, or even the Canonic Sonatina for two flutes, but the Sonata for althorn (1943). A tenor instrument, known in the US as the alto horn, it is so rare that Hindemith accepted his sonata could be played on the horn or alto saxophone. It is a delightful work for a delightful instrument, beautifully rendered here. 

Melnikov’s role parallels that of Glenn Gould but his accounts are less wayward than the Canadian’s, his soloists generally stronger. Indeed, in most of the sonatas, the primary competition comes from one-off recordings (now that Ensemble Villa Musica’s almost-complete sonata set, with pianist Kalle Randalu, is unavailable). On BIS, Roland Pöntinen is accompanist for three rival accounts. In the 1935 Violin Sonata, Wallin may now have been overtaken by Zimmermann, Becker-Bender and now Isabelle Faust but choice will depend primarily on couplings since the margins between these contenders is so fine. 

So, too, with the others, though Wendy Warner remains peerless in the Cello Sonata despite a fine challenger here from Rudin. I would not want to be without Lindberg’s Trombone Sonata, though BIS’s sound is a tad over-resonant. Costes’s superb interpretation is the finest since Antonsen’s, accompanied by Sawallisch (EMI – sadly nla), and certainly a match for Laubin’s. I prefer Costes to Tine Thing Helseth’s driven account with Kathryn Stott, in a comparatively fierce recording. In short then, this is a magnificent disc, with leading or contending versions of all the works in terrific, beautifully balanced Harmonia Mundi sound. Let’s hope Melnikov & Co return to record some more. (Gramophone)