Daniel Müller-Schott - Shostakovich: Cello Concertos (2008)

By the early years of the new century, Shostakovich's two cello concertos have become an integral part of the standard repertoire and any young virtuosos out to make a name for themselves inevitably have to take them up and record them. And so it is with cellist Daniel Müller-Schott. Fresh from his 2006 coupling of Elgar and Walton's cello concertos and his 2007 recording of Brahms Double Concerto with violinist Julia Fischer, the young German cellist turns in a masterful coupling of the Soviet composer's two concertos in 2008. His First Concerto is appropriately powerfully rhythmic in the outer movements, but soulful and inward in the central movements, especially in the extended Cadenza. His Second Concerto, however, is inward nearly from start to finish, with a tone of painful intimacy suffusing the closing Allegretto. Needless to say, Müller-Schott handles all Shostakovich's technical challenges with assured virtuosity, and as they did in the Brahms Double Concerto, the accompaniment provided here by Yakov Kreizberg and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks is supportive yet still strong willed and challenging. Though this disc does not efface memories of Rostropovich's premiere recordings or Schiff and Maisky's more recent recordings, it will be well worth hearing by fans of the music or the cellist. Orfeo's sound is rich and evocative.