TCHAIKOVSKY: Serenade for Strings in C Major, Op. 48; GRIEG: Holberg Suite, Op. 40; MOZART: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, K. 525 – Moscow Soloists/Yuri Bashmet – Onyx 4037, 68:29 [Distrib. by Harmonia mundi] *****:
Recorded 11-14 October 2006 at Pavel Slobotkin Center, Moscow, this gorgeous disc seems dedicated to realizing Romantic music in perfect form. The Moscow Soloists were formed by viola virtuoso Yuri Bashmet in 1992, and their sound proves absolutely homogeneous, the part-writing a sweet blend even in their most visceral, serrated attacks. The Grieg Holberg Suite (1884) which opens the disc has each movement vying with the last to produce the most chiseled effects. From the brisk opening Praeludium “in olden style” to the Rigaudon, with its hurdy-gurdy Norwegian fiddle and drone effects, the level of execution remains etched and finely honed, Remington Steel. The Sarabande and Air, respectively, proceed with nobly, singing passion, the inner voices as articulate as the top, melodic lines. The Gavotte, with its tiny Musette, invites images of Scarlatti and Gossec, cross-fertilized by Breughel.
Ever sparkling and tinged by romantic sweetness, Mozart’s eternal Eine kleine Nachtmusik (1787) resonates with silver slivers of sound, with Bashmet’s asking for an occasional ritard to elongate Mozart’s dancing figures. Crisp attacks and speedy tempos–albeit prone to a romantic, elastic pause–augmented by clear enunciation of inner details, keep this glowing performance fresh, despite our long familiarity with the figures. The trio of the Romanze softly scurries over a delectable ostinato; the da capo clearly takes its source from a deep pedal tone in the bass fiddle. The Menuetto shimmers with rustic energy, a decided edge to the string tone. The Rondo pounds, slithers, and thuds its way to our fancies, a deliciously deft reading not without its spit, polish, and romantic tugs at the tempo.
The Romantic ethos saturates Bashmet’s reading of Tchaikovsky’s wonderful Serenade in C (1881), a plaintive intimacy that does not lack for girth as well as nuance. Tchaikovsky wanted to pay homage to Mozart and to “atone” for his potboiler 1812 Overture at the same time. Bashmet allows the multifarious string colors to vent their intrinsic, classical design in the face of passionate yearnings. The quicksilver staccati in the Allegro moderato phase of the first movement bounce and sing as brightly as any finely tuned dance-step from The Sleeping Beauty. The Valse enjoys a limpid, caressing verve, a Romantic’s answer to a Classical menuet. The violas then the violins and celli take up the theme with equal poise and suppleness over a molded bass line. Like Furtwaengler, Bashmet squeezes the juice of the last phrase, but more transparently, given the smaller forces. The scale-based Elegia milks our tender sensibilities, Bashmet honing a suavely lush tone in his violas and cellos’ upper register. The late pages’ harmonies become quite expressive, not so far removed from Verklaerte Nacht. A drone pedal, Volga-boatmen style, opens the Russian last movement, based on two themes collected by Balakirev. The second tune, thoroughly spirited, employs balalaika effects, adroitly maneuvered by Bashmet’s swordsmen’s ensemble. The momentum becomes quite insistent, the flurry of 16ths sizzle by until the opening motto of the first movement returns, a bit of Beethoven’s “fate” cycle. A last milking of the scale theme bursts into the Russian dance once more, so Cossack and nimble Russian guitars conclude in buoyant harmony.
–Gary Lemco
