<<  -- 3 --  Tess Crebbin    FUNDAMENTAL SPIRIT

It seems that the two friends were on such a roll in the year of 1991 that they couldn't lay recording aside. This is not a bad thing because they have produced a legacy of musical excellence for posterity. Gililov's piano may sometimes walk very close to the border of polite etiquette in trying to dissolve the serene cello of Pergamenschikow. But if one knows the musicians and their history, notwithstanding the competition that seems to go on between the two instruments, it is easy to recognize that here are two friends playing with and not against each other. They are having fun, and that is something they transmit to the listener with every note.

Balanced and even-handed, Pergamenschikow guides his cello through the 1993 release of the Orfeo Hummel CD, which was recorded between 23 and 25 April at the Bayerischer Rundfunk. He and Gililov are joined once again by Adorján for the Hummel Trio for Flute, Cello and Piano in A Op 78. This trio is basically a set of variations in cyclic form. Consisting of an introduction, followed by the theme, it then leads into seven variations, the last of these also acting as the finale of the cycle. Then Pergamenschikow and Gililov team up for Hummel's Sonata for Cello and Piano in A Op 104 [listen -- C 252 931 A track 11, 3:51-5:06]. An intrinsic merit of their partnership is that everything fits, down to the last note, and this comfortable fit sustains itself even through the challenging modulations that the composer exhibits in this work. Prevaricating as the cello may seem at times, due to its softer sound that seeks tonal beauty rather than brightness, Pergamenschikow soon establishes himself as the fundamental spirit of this composition.

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