Thanks to the inspiration of Jacqueline Du Pre and several fine teachers (including her own), this country has never had a richer crop of talented young cellists than today. Steven Isserlis (grandson of the Russian pianist, Julius Isserlis) is surely among the best of them. choosing Brahms's pair of the sonatas for his debut on record with Peter Evans, he plays with exceptionally sensitive musical insight as well as very lovely tone—the latter not outsize, but distinguished by a soft-grained incandescence deriving from his preference for gut strings. Though never wanting in intensity at moments of climax, both performances have an intimacy of style. It is as if Brahms's secrets were being confided to you, personally, in your own room rather than addressed to the back row of packed Royal Festival Hall.
As the sleeve-note writer observes, balance—always tricky in these works—is even trickier because of the cellist's gut strings. So all praise to Isserlis's closely attuned partner, Peter Evans, for his keen ear and restraint achieved without any suggestion of tonal impoverishment. In the opening movement and finale of the F major work I was even less aware of the problems posed by texture than in the Harrell/Ashkenazy performance on Decca, with which this one has more in common than the more fruity DG one of Rostropovich and Serkin (who often favour a more leisurely tempo in pursuit of romantic expression). Both those two splendid earlier performances will always keep their place in my library. Yet I shall return to Isserlis and Evans with no less pleasure. Though not quite so radiant in sound quality as the Harrell/Ashkenazy disc (see CD review below), this new offering from Hyperion is just as clear and true.'