Search - Maurice Ravel, Robert Kulek :: Music for Cello and Piano

A leading cellist of our time

Peter Witte | Germany | 11/13/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Daniel Mueller-Schott performed the Dvorak concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival in June 2001. During the rehearsal - I was lucky to attend it - something extraordinary happened. When the echo of the last chord of the first movement had faded away, the uncomparable CSO spontaneously broke into an enormous ovation for the young cellist. Now, with his second CD with French chamber music being released, everybody will be able to verify the enthusiasm of these professional musicians. It is evident that Daniel Mueller-Schott must be ranked among the leading cellists of our time. The particular merit of this EMI recording is not only to be seen in presenting this miracle of a musician but more in the way really great chamber music is performed by Daniel and his absolutely congenial partner Robert Kulek, a Latvian born New Yorker. I actually had not heard of this pianist before, but as an old musician, I dare say Robert Kulek has everything that is needed for a great carrier. If you like to listen to an interpretation bursting of deeply felt passion and fervor in every single note, of breath taking virtuosity and heart breaking lyricisms: on this stunning CD you'll find it in abundance. Thank you, guys, for providing me with a musical experience so intense and cheering I have not had for a long, long time."

Beautiful, passionate, compelling!

C. J. Sturz | NC United States | 07/21/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"WONDERFUL: this word describes the music and the performances. Muller-Schott and Kulek play these lovely works with a superb sense of phrasing, dynamics, architecture, and rubato. I bought this CD originally to become familiar with the Debussy and Poulenc Sonatas for cello and piano (I am a pianist), but the unexpected gem on the CD for me is the Franck Sonata in A (originally for violin and piano) transcribed for cello! It is, to me, the best performance of this work I have ever heard, live or recorded. The short Ravel piece which ends the disk is a minuature oasis of quiet beauty. This is one of my favorite CDs in a very extensive collection, and at the price listed it is a great deal!"

Keep your eye, and your EAR, on this one!

MartinP | Nijmegen, The Netherlands | 12/21/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Just a few hours after ordering this disc I found out that Müller Schott would be performing with our local symphony orchestra, only five minutes from my doorstep, in less than a week. I got myself a ticket the next day (give him another year and he will sell out everywhere months in advance - and probably will no longer be performing in provincial backwaters...), and was rewarded with the first performance of Prokofiev's rambling, abstruse Sinfonia Concertante that actually made sense to me - all thanks to the musicianship of this young cellist. Sitting in a front row hardly 4 meters away from the performer, I also had ample opportunity to be dazzled by the apparent facility with which even the most demanding technical difficulties were tackled.
That virtuosity needs not get in the way of deeply felt music-making is proved with equal eloquence on this disc. Don't let the cover mislead you; - at first glance you might fear that you are dealing with the male counterpart of one-time cello pin-up Ofra Harnoy. I gathered from a recent interview that Müller Schott considers his uncommon good looks an embarrassment rather than an asset, but clearly his marketing people think otherwise, as evidenced by the sleeve and back inlay of this disc (not to mention his website). However, with musical qualities of this magnitude, you will soon be listening, and be amazed at what you hear! My only recording of the Debussy sonata was that by Maisky and Argerich (EMI), which I always found overblown, aggressive and unduly hectic and rushed - so much so that Maisky is unable to cope with the fast runs in the finale and reduces them to glissandi. Kulek and MS, who form an ideal partnership, inhabit a different world altogether and one, I would guess, much closer to the heart of Debussy. The strange, nostalgic mood of the first movement is perfectly realized, the introverted playing making this a deeply personal experience. That MS is a virtuoso as good as any is nevertheless quite plain to hear in his delightful rendering of the bizarre scherzo. The Finale is taken at a sensible speed that doesn't get in the way of clear articulation, and here even more than in other tracks I was struck by the meticulous attention paid to dynamic markings - e.g., the ecstatic ascending and crescendo phrase of the cello ending on a truly soft, not a loud high E. The Poulenc is a gem and Müller-Schott deserves praise both for unearthing it and for the way he plays it. The slow movement especially is haunting, quite as touching as the best of Poulenc's many songs. And even if, like me, you don't care much for the Franck violin sonata in its cello guise, this musical couple is audibly committed to it. If anyone can save it from stuffiness they can, and they are highly adept at clothing its (to my ears, many) stolid patches with such sheer beauty of sound that you might be tempted to start loving the piece... All in all a wonderful disc, representing an extremely felicitous marriage of infallible technique to musical insight. Whether you like M-S's inclination to use slides as an expressive gesture is a matter of taste - they were the only aspect in the music making that I suspect I may find somewhat irksome on repeated hearing, but that won't stop me from playing this disc very, very often!"