TCHAIKOVSKY: Variations on a Rococo Theme; SHOSTAKOVICH: Cello Concerto No. 1 – Kim Cook, cello/ Volgograd Symphony Orchestra/ Edward Serov, conductor – MSR 1289, 49:31 **** [Distr. by Albany]:
I was quite taken with Zuill Bailey’s recording of the Shostakovich and felt his Tchaikovsky held it’s own pretty well. Now comes along Nebraska native Kim Cook (currently Professor of Cello at Penn State University) with the same coupling (minus the Tchaikovsky tidbits found on the Bailey recording) that gives an equally expressive and somewhat different rendition of the Shostakovich. Cook is not as incisive as Bailey, yet her reading finds lyrical elements in the score where I thought none; indeed her whole approach to this seminal work seems to be one of melody, allowing the underpinnings of the orchestra (which plays better than the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra did on Telarc) to add the spikiness present in all of this composer’s scores. Her bow strokes feel as if they are long and intense, giving a valued and valuable resonance and depth to her reading, trying desperately to assure us that this composer can compete with the best of them in both songful- and soulfulness.
The Tchaikovsky is somewhat in the same mold, as if trying to prove a point! Cook is more expansive than many I have heard in this music, and takes her time in the many intimate passages, while not cheating us on excitement (though both Leonard Rose and Rostropovich hold the guns in that department). Overall I think this a fine release, one that I am sure I will return to despite the competition. I can’t dismiss Bailey’s Shosty, but this one is as valuable in other ways, so the two make a nice complement. The sound is excellent and the production values high—and bravo to the Volgograd Orchestra! But oh my, only 50 minutes? Come on, MSR. [There certainly is a trend to fill recent classical CDs right up to their 80-minute limit, but remember most classical LPs were/are only about 35 minutes, if that…Ed]
— Steven Ritter
