Maxim Rysanov - In Schubert’s Company

The Guardian 60

Rysanov/Riga Sinfonietta/Katsnelson
(Onyx)

Maxim Rysanov is involved in this many-faceted double-CD homage to Schubert as viola soloist, conductor, commissioner and arranger, often nearly all at once. In between very worthwhile performances of the Arpeggione and Third Violin Sonatas (the latter in Rysanov’s own viola arrangement) with pianist Yakov Katsnelson, and a buoyant Symphony No 5 and Polonaise in which he conducts the Riga Sinfonietta, come some new works inspired by the composer. The title track is a wistfully rhapsodic piece by Sergey Akhunov in which a theme from Schubert’s Adagio and Rondo Concertante seems tantalisingly just out of reach; Akhunov also contributes a frenetic response to Der Erlkönig. Dobrinka Tabakova’s tensely expectant Fantasy Homage to Schubert is effective enough, but Leonid Desyatnikov’s Wie der Alte Leiermann, a forceful treatment of the hurdy-gurdy theme from the final song of Winterreise, seems thumpingly heavy-handed in Schubert’s elegant company.