The final piece is short and unrepentantly modern, with the repetitive phrasing and staccato, dotted rhythms so reminiscent of Glass. Kobekin instils his work with a greater breadth of melody and less structural rigidity, but it is still focussed and intense. Unsurprisingly it serves as a perfect showcase for Kobekina’s energy and attack, the tension and dynamic control she brings to her playing.
In some ways, that final piece from the Claves disc is the perfect bridge to the second recording here. Ellipses is a collection of eleven short pieces (the longest is the Debussy Sonata at 11’39”, while most are closer to the 3’ to 5’ mark) that map or relate the inspirational arc that links earlier music with more modern compositions. The Debussy pays homage to Rameau, while the Sollima Fandango is based on one of the earliest pieces for solo cello, written by Boccherini. There are four Siciliennes, including those from Willem de Fesch (who died in 1761), and Fauré (who died in 1924) and Maria Theresia von Paradis (who supposedly died in 1824. I say supposedly because rumour has it that, far from ‘discovering’ the piece in the 1960’s, Samuel Dushkin composed it himself. Nevertheless, the piece achieved considerable popularity played by the bow of no less a cellist than Jacqueline du Pré: Which makes Kobekina including it here somewhat akin to a modern singer taking on an Ella Fitzgerald classic. The collection is rounded out with a pair of Folias (one early, one contemporary), Détail, a short but intense piece by Jules Matton and a Gallardo, again composed by the cellist’s father.
Immediate appeal…
From the stately rhythms, languid phrases and graceful melodie of the Siciliennes, to the insistently accelerating rhythms of the Folia, Kobekina’s grasp of pace, energy and direction is effortlessly beautiful, allowing the score and the instrument to do the talking. Never playing with more than a single accompanist, the focus is firmly on the cello, which is reproduced with immediacy, volume, body and texture. The purpose and drive in the bowing – or the smooth length and shape of its more measured and graceful phrases – is immediately apparent, revealed by the intimate recording. It’s so seductively engaging that it’s hard to pick a favourite track, each piece revelling in its own identity and compact form. If push really comes to shove, then I’ve always been a sucker for the Villa-Lobos Bachianas Brasilieras, No.5 being included here in a gorgeously sensitive and delicate arrangement for cello and guitar. But then the percussive brilliance and infectious rhythms of the Gallardo make for a compelling and exhilarating finale – so different to the elegant beauty of the von Paradis Sicilienne. You see the problem… Except of course, that it’s no problem at all. This is a disc to enjoy over and again, a disc with so much range and such musical presence that there’s something here to snag any mood, whether reflective or extrovert, intellectual or emotional. Of the two disc reviewed here, it is also the better recording by a significant margin – no doubt helped by the small scale of the works involved. The Claves disc captures great performances of serious works. In its own way, the musical content of Ellipses is just as serious – and just as affective: a beautiful collection and one with a genuinely broad appeal. Its combination of dance rhythms and haunting melodies will connect with more than just classical listeners, while the virtuosity in the playing is never less than joyously impressive.
