“Johannes Moser and Andrei Korobeinikov bring both muscle and imagination to these two epic Russian sonatas.”
Johannes Moser’s latest album, Rachmaninoff & Prokofiev – Works for Cello and Piano recorded with pianist Andrei Korobeinikov received a wonderful review on BBC Music Magazine! Composed during troubled periods in the composers’ lives, the cello sonatas are life-affirming works. Rachmaninov’s arresting sonata which he wrote following a nervous breakdown is not unlike his perennially popular Second Piano Concerto: a journey from brooding melancholy to untrammelled joy, with a transcendentally beautiful slow movement. Prokofiev wrote his outstanding sonata while labouring under considerable hardship. Read a passage of the review below
In both performances there are moments of unexpected revelation: amid the manic gaiety of Prokofiev’s Allegro finale comes a strange, reflective episode. It conjures themes from Romeo and Juliet, but as if in a distorted mirror. It can seem like a longueur before the party re-starts, or be treated as a heart-on-sleeve romance. Here, the players submit themselves absolutely to its quietude. In the midst of a rollicking surge, something deeply introverted grows. They go on to build an overwhelming ending, carillons of bell-like figures given thunderous momentum by Korobeinikov
by Helen Wallace
Read the complete review in BBC Music Magazine March 2017 edition!
photo by Sarah Wijzenbeek @2016
