The Gramophone
"Maisky plays them all with his heart in the right place, which for these purposes is on his sleeve. As string-players sometimes say, he gives the music plenty of rosin."
Album Description
DG's premier cellist Mischa Maisky champions Rachmaninov's beautiful, emotional works for cello and piano. He is partnered by the talented young Argentinean pianist Sergio Tiempo, a pupil of Martha Argerich
The repertoire, including the Cello Sonata op. 19, the Danse orientale for cello and piano, as well as the five "songs without words" plus three pieces for piano (all arranged by Maisky), are all new to the DG catalogue. This release was recorded live during the Progetto Martha Argerich Festival in Lugano in June 2005 (Sonata) and in 2006
Élegie is Maisky's fifth album to explore the "songs without words" concept. His critically acclaimed previous releases focussed on songs by Schubert, Brahms, Mendelssohn and Russian songs among others
The booklet notes, by the well-known English writer Tully Potter, incorporate quotations from Mischa Maisky on the music and the arrangements