|
 |
| Dvorak Concerto at the Proms with Sakari Oramo and the CBSO |
| “As we all know, just occasionally the indisposition of an artist can be a blessed thing: it allows someone else an unexpected place in the sun. Heinrich Schiff's misfortune at Sunday night's Prom led to the finest live performance of the solo part in Dvorak's Cello Concerto that I can remember. Jumping in at exceedingly short notice - so short that not even the programme book carried a hint of a change (nor information on the replacement) - was the young German cellist, Alban Gerhardt. A colleague of mine on this newspaper recognised his astonishing talent back in 1998, and Gerhardt has lived up to the praise with the BBC marking him out in their New Generation Artists scheme both in 1999 and 2000. Gerhardt's Dvorak is that of a young man: thoughtful and passionate, while appropriately languid. Gerhardt is a slight man but his sound is big, his musical intelligence without question as he sensitively coaxed the music to sing. Evidence of hasty preparation, however, was revealed by initial uncertainty both by soloist and orchestra - the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra - and Sakari Oramo's conducting, especially in the outer movements, allowed the orchestra frequently to mask the soloist. Oramo's jerky gestures seemed oddly inappropriate for the full-bloodied romance of this score. Gerhardt was at his best in the slow movement, playing with heart-felt intensity and pacing his line to the wind soloists far behind him - a true soloist and chamber musician. In the fast third movement, Gerhardt kept marvelous control, surprisingly rising at one moment an octave above the written score. He was particularly fastidious to the score's dynamic markings, yet at the end of the piece brought tremendous tension to his final crescendo. Rightfully, he was very warmly received by the large audience...” |
| Annette Moreau, August 24, 2001 |
| Britten Cellosymphony with the BBC Manchester + Tortelier in Symphony Hall Birmingham |
| “...German Alban Gerhardt was soloist in Britten's 1964 Cello Symphony, written for Rostropovich. His opening was awesomely Grimesian, the scherzo inquiet feverish yet confidential, and the slow movement and pre-Passacaglia cadenza, utterly spellbinding...” |
| Roderic Dunnett, November 15, 2001 |
| Triple Concerto with Osborne, Batiashvili, Vänskä and the Scottish BBC at the Proms |
| “The Triple Concerto is the Cinderella of Beethoven's concertos: regardless of the additional cost of the soloists, it doesn't provide the soloist-versus-orchestra thrills that the genre usually offers, and so it tends to be left in the shadows. But the three young soloists here the Georgian violinist Elisabeth Batiashvili, German cellist Alban Gerhardt and Scottish pianist Steven Osborne brought to it a chamber-musical intensity that commanded attention. Yet it wasn't by imposing some forced grandeur on the piece; instead, the sparkle came as they lived the music, Gerhardt smiling at Batiashvili as he tossed her some phrase, Osborne catching and expanding a figure chucked his way by Batiashvili. Last year Batiashvili gave us a Beethoven Violin Concerto with the same conductor and orchestra, Osmo Vänskä and the BBC Scottish, that enjoyed some of the most musical playing I've ever heard in the work. Here she was just as good, with Gerhardt and Osborne partners in music-making of exhilarating spontaneity.” |
| Martin Anderson, September 11 2001 |
| “...The concert's centerpiece had been an elegant account of Shostakovich's First Cello Concerto where Alban Gerhardt made an especially warm statement of the slow movement...” |
| Rob Cowan, August 15, 2000 |
| London Wigmore Hall Millennium Concert: |
| “Alban Gerhardt, who won more applause than anyone later in the evening when he played Kodaly's colossal Sonata for Solo Cello, a deeply serious yet virtuoso work that somehow seem timeless..” |
| Adrian Jack, January 5, 2000 |
| Debut with the London Philharmonic and Paavo J‰rvi at Royal Festival Hall, London |
| “But the highlight of Friday's program brought us more Tchaikovsky, the Rococo-Variations for cello and orchestra this time with Alban Gerhardt as soloist. Now there is someone really special, an accomplished virtuoso with a vibrant tone, a genuine feeling for line, a mean staccato bow and a welcome sense of musical humour. Gerhardt's Rococo had all the agility, wit and repose that Tretjakov's Violin Concerto lacked, and I fancy that we will be hearing a great deal more of him during this coming year.” |
| Bob Cowan, Independent, April 22, 1998 |
