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Romy the Cat wrote:

Romy the Cat wrote:  Amphissa wrote: Mats, I agree with you. The recording of the cello concerto by Natalia Gutman with Svetlanov conducting is the best overall performance of this beautiful concerto. It is unfortunate that she never toured in the West. She is relatively unknown outside Russia. But all of the recordings I have heard by her are very good. She is an excellent cellist.    Actually it is not exactly accurate, David. Natalia Gutman toured very actively. According to her she has twice per month concerts outside of Russia. A month ago she was here in Boston. Interning that where you read her interviews that she so exposed to word that it is hardly feels that she is Russian. I agree – she is an excellent cellist – probably the one of the today’s world one of the greatest cellist. Rgs, the Cat    Today the WGBH broadcasted the live concert of Natalia Gutman plays In Boston Shostakovich’s First Cello Concerto with Boston Philiharmonic Orchestra under Benjamin Zander. Wow, what a play! Just phenomenal cellist! Furthermore she played two Bach’s pieces on encore.  It is shame that the concert of this caliber will live once over FM and never will be heard by wide public. Anyhow, Bostonians, April 23, 26, 2009 Natalia Gutman plays in Sanders Theatre and April  25 in Jordan Hall (where I most likely will go) with the same BPO and Zander. In program the Prokofiev’s  Symphony-Concerto for Cello and Orchestra and Brahms Second  Symphony.   The Cat

Two hours after the end of the glorious Götterdämmerung from MET, I was sitting at the D row, center sit of Jordan Hall right in front of conducting podium of Boston Philiharmonic and Natalia Gutman. What can I say? I knew that Ms. Gutman is hell of a cellist. I knew that the concerto long and difficult but I did not expect THAT level of performance. I was the absolutely the best LIVE cello concert I heard, period.

Natalia Gutman played in a way sloppy, not even sloppy but I would say without any particular care to her phrasing. She played like it was a dally concert for her (and I am sure it was) and she did invest more efforts in her play then you parking your car in your 20 years old driveway.  Some of the things he did I disagreed and would call them as “questionable” but here is Natalia Gutman’s genius come to play - whatever she did sound so phenomenally authetiek and beautiful that it clearly indicated the delta between us – the ordinary mortal and her. It was one of those concerts when the level of soloist was so far beyond the supporting orchestra that the orchestra was not even able to interact with soloist. It is not the Boston Philiharmonic played bad (the first violin section showed off some incredible interaction with Gutman’s cello) but it was clearly visible who runs the show.  It kind of fun to hear Prokofiev concerto with “defeated” orchestra as in this concerto cello shall fight with orchestra. The fight did not happen but it was rather Gutman very sparingly despise virtuosity and the virtuosity was not in her play the cello but how to do it in the best way with THIS orchestra. Gutman’s virtuosity has no single sign of shine, glitz, effectiveness or sentimentalism. It was rather virtuosity play with stunning reserve; it was in way funny to hear how simple, tasteful and brilliantly she was crashing through the most complex expressions of cello repertoire.

I usually am not big fan of applauding after concerts, if I do it them seldom, shortly and very unwillingly. Here I found myself absolutely ecstatic and was applauding up to the pain in my arms…

I left the consert after the Natalia Gutman play and I did not stay to listen the Boston Philiharmonic’s Brahms Second Symphony. It was a long day and after the Wagner I figured out that the lighting does not strike in the same spot trice…

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