Fans of either cellist Mstislav Rostropovich or pianist Sviatoslav Richter will have to hear the performances on this two-disc Doremi set. It contains the four pieces they performed in Moscow on March 1, 1950 -- Brahms' Sonata No. 1 and Beethoven's sonatas No. 3 and No. 4, plus the world premiere of Prokofiev's sonata -- and two of the pieces they played at the Aldeburgh Festival on June 20, 1964 -- Grieg's sonata as well as another Brahms' Sonata No. 1.As their fans know, Rostropovich and Richter were technically just as ...
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Fans of either cellist Mstislav Rostropovich or pianist Sviatoslav Richter will have to hear the performances on this two-disc Doremi set. It contains the four pieces they performed in Moscow on March 1, 1950 -- Brahms' Sonata No. 1 and Beethoven's sonatas No. 3 and No. 4, plus the world premiere of Prokofiev's sonata -- and two of the pieces they played at the Aldeburgh Festival on June 20, 1964 -- Grieg's sonata as well as another Brahms' Sonata No. 1.As their fans know, Rostropovich and Richter were technically just as impressive live as they were in the studio, but interpretively, they were even more exciting. Thus, the Beethoven sonatas here are as athletic as their later studio recordings for Philips but with more fire. More importantly for fans, these recordings of Brahms and Grieg's sonatas are the duos' only extant performances of these works together, and they prove as muscular and passionate as one could hope.The most significant recording here, however, is the world premiere of Prokofiev's...
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