Cellist ready to flex muscles with SSO
Alban Gerhardt will perform the challenging Shostakovich Cello Concerto No.1

ellist Alban Gerhardt had a little time to kill in July before a concert in New Hampshire. He decided to head to a lake and swim to an island and back. When he reached the island, he realized he was feeling pretty fit. So, instead of turning back to shore, he decided to swim around the island. “I was in the water for about four hours,” he says. “I had never swum more than 20 minutes. I had completely forgotten any sense of time.” As Gerhardt was churning his way through the water, others felt some churning inside. They had no idea where Gerhardt had gone. By the time Gerhardt was done with his swim, someone had called a rescue crew in an attempt to find the missing cellist. “Since, I’ve taken it a bit easier on sports,” he says by cell phone Monday from Berlin.

But he says he‘s not lightening up on his cello work. „I‘m trying to get back into shape,“ he says, using athletic terminology to describe his preparations for playing Dmitri Shostakovich‘s Cello Concerto No.1 with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra this weekend. Gerhardt, the son of a longtime violinist with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, has carved out a solid career as a freelance soloist.

Early on, he planned to join his father in the Berlin Philharmonic. But the timing wasn‘t right. „The principal cellist retired a bit too early,“ he says. At the time, Gerhardt was 21. He says now, about 14 years later, that it‘s good for him that he decided to do things on his own. He has played with the Chicago, Houston, Baltimore and National symphony orchestras in this country. In Europe, he has played with the London, BBC, Rotterdam philharmonic orchestras and the City of Birmingham Symphony. The solo career forces him to do more, says Gerhardt, who about a week earlier had recorded a CD and forced himself to memorize three pieces fairly quickly. „I wouldn‘t have done that if I‘d had a job,“ he says.

He ranks the Shostakovich piece with Antonin Dvorak‘s cello concerto as „one of the most fun to play.“ Fun doesn‘t mean easy, though. „It sounds as difficult as it is,“ says Gerhardt, who has been quietly packing a small suitcase while talking. He likes the „grittiness and the nastiness of it.“ The composer, Shostakovich – one of the top Soviet composers of the 20th century – was „quite a tortured soul,“ Gerhardt says. „It really comes out.“ Gerhardt explains that Shostakovich could have left the U.S.S.R., which was under Josef Stalin at the time. But „he stayed and lived through this horror“ and especially troubling time and place for „a sensitive and creative musician,“ says Gerhardt, who by now is in his car on the streets of Berlin. „The piece doesn‘t sound like living hell,“ he says. „But is‘ very dark and dreary.“ The cellist particularly pays attention to the first movement. „Often people play it a bit too fast,“ he says. He has said that he likes parts of that movement to bring to mind of listeners the sounds of the Red Army marching, he says. „I‘m trying to get this rather coarse feeling. Sometimes conductors don‘t want to participate in that quest.“

At the moment, Gerhardt is on another quest. He‘s driving through Berlin while talking on the phone because he doesn‘t want to be late for an appointment with a landlord, who will show him an apartment. This one has possibilities, says Gerhardt. This apartment is on Uhlandstrasse. That‘s good for two reasons. For one thing, it‘s „five bus minutes“ from his son‘s school. For another, the „best music store in the city“ is on that street. That would be Musik Riedel, which has sold instruments and sheet music since 1910.

Gerhardt says he‘s not sure how soon, or if, his soon-to-be-6-year-old son, Janos, will visit that store as an instrument-playing customer. He says the youngster has asked about playing an instrument a couple of times. But there'‘ no rush. Gerhardt explains that he'‘ waiting for some passion to surface. The first instrument will likely not be one with a bow, though. I want him to do the piano,“ Gerhardt says, as he arrives at the apartment. „It‘s good for the brain.“

Frank Herron, The Post Standard, Syracuse, January 6, 2005