Music criticism often suffers from acute adjectivitus, particularly when a critic gushes to clichés such as “thrilling”, “brilliant”, “dazzling”, “stunning”, or “breathtaking”, and this is one of the reasons it’s easier to write negatively (so many more juicy adjectives to choose from) than positively. It also sounds strange to resort to extremes of hyperbole in describing a work as inherently intimate and “small-scale” as, say, a cello sonata, yet all of these adjectives apply to this phenomenal (now there’s a less-used one!) disc of chamber music by Belgian composer Adolfe Biarent. Indeed, I would venture to say that these two works compare favorably to the best in their respective media. The Piano Quintet certainly ranks with those of Dvorák, Brahms, Franck, and Fauré, while the Cello Sonata strikes me as the finest since Beethoven, not forgetting Brahms. They’re that good.
So are the performances. Pianist Diane Andersen and the Danel Quartet have a field day with the Quintet, a huge work in which two massive (16 and 14 minutes respectively) and dramatic outer movements flank a brief intermezzo. The lack of a true slow movement gives some indication of the vast energy unleashed here, and musically the piece covers at least as much emotional ground as most symphonies. The four-movement Cello Sonata displays a similarly grand scale, at slightly more than 35 minutes in total. Once again Andersen and cellist Marc Drobinsky thrill to the work’s challenges, from the Presto furioso scherzo to the intensely emotional Lamento slow movement. The finale’s calm ending possesses an evocative poetry and inevitability enjoyed only by true masterpieces. Cyprès captures both works in vivid, immediate sound that places no barriers between the listener and these dynamic, communicative performances. This is a true chamber music event: you can invent your own descriptive adjectives, but please don’t miss this release.
