OBSERVER: Maisky In Recital
The cello, it is said, is the most akin to the human voice and this recital by Mischa Maisky, accompanied by his daughter Lily Maisky on piano, took me back to the days of my singing lessons as an aspiring baritone.
Alas, I did not have the fluency or the control so eloquently demonstrated during this performance.
The touch and differentiation between the pianissimo and forte, the discourse between the cello and the piano and the expressive interpretation was, at times, transportive.
This might have been because of the recollection of my vain attempts at singing songs from Schumann’s, Dichter-liebe.
Had I been acquainted then with Maisky’s work, I might have realiSed what was needed by way of interpretation. What does come to mind is just how much more flexible the cello is at times than the human voice.
A counterpoint to the traditional works by Mendelssohn and Schubert was the Shostakovich.
This highlighted the range of the cello. The plucking of strings and glissando moments make for greater diversity but, curiously, the cello seems to want to come back to the more fluid resonance as if that were its true voice.
And of course, there are the melodies that seem to be eternal. Rach-maninoff’s Vocalise, speaks still about elegance and emotion.
The cello’s articulation is not in words but in the breath behind those words that Maisky brings to the fore in his playing.
Review by David McLean