Still only 29, the Norwegian cellist, Truls Mork, was among the finalists of the 1982 Moscow Tchaikovsky Competition before winning the Cassado Cello Competition in Florence and the Unesco Prize at the Tribune of young soloists in Bratislava the following year. And it is easy to understand why on the strength of this record: his cello sings throughout with the loveliest lyrical tone; his phrasing is of the intuitively musical kind that can never be taught. With the spirited 20-year-old Norwegian, Leif Ove Andsnes (also a prize-winner) at the piano, the Sonata Chopin wrote in 1845-6 for his cellist friend, August Franchomme, gets a warmly affectionate performance that I much enjoyed even if alike in characterization, balance and recording it is not as unreservedly recommendable as the justly praised Rostropovich/Argerich mid-price reissue on DG.
In his desire to make every note speak from the heart, Mork is inclined to linger just a little too lovingly over this and that (as in second subject territory in the first movement) at the cost of the music's longer flow. From Rostropovich (faster in tempo throughout) there is a stronger, more sustained impulse. And excitable as she is, Argerich never allows the very demonstrative keyboard part to over-ride the cello, as Andsnes occasionally does in what sounds like a more reverberant recording venue. Certainly Argerich's texture emerges crisper and clearer in the Scherzo and finale. The finale, in particular, is much more on its toes from the older players.
Of the Schumann pieces, I thought Mork at his very best in the Op. 70 Adagio, which he plays with an intimacy and calm that I even preferred to Rostropovich's more ardent response. The five Stucke im Volkston are full of character, though from time to time I wondered if in pursuit of expressive detail Mork was sacrificing just a little of the 'folk' simplicity at which Schumann was aiming here. That is particularly true of No. 3, taken far slower than the metronome marking. And I don't think the composer would have liked Mork's disregard of dynamic markings (p, mf and ff) for the three successive statements of the main theme of No. 1, despite his relish of its humour. The three Fantasiestucke are beautifully sung, though several times I again wondered if the piano was too forward.'