John-Henry Crawford: Voice of Rachmaninoff
Orchid Classics

While cellist John-Henry Crawford is clearly capable of delivering exemplary performances of any number of composers' works, his playing seems particularly well-suited to those of Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943). That's certainly the impression engendered by his third album release, which builds on the considerable momentum generated by Dialogo (2021) and The Music of Latin America (2022). Designed to honour the 150th anniversary of the composer's birth, the new release pairs the Louisiana-born cellist with Filipino-American pianist Victor Santiago Asunción on a recording distinguished by the romantic splendour of the Russian composer's music and the lyrical expressivity of Crawford's playing.

A charismatic and polished performer who possesses a warm, vibrato-rich sound, Crawford has quickly established himself as one of today's leading cellists. Given melodically enticing material of the kind Rachmaninoff wrote, it's only natural that the new recording would present the cellist in a flattering light. In the gentler pieces in particular, tenderness and vulnerability inform his playing in a way that can't help but elevate the recording. Fittingly, one of the album's better-known pieces, Vocalise, Op. 34 No. 14, directly references the singing character of Rachmaninoff's music, something the cellist amplifies beautifully in his performances.

The four-movement Sonata for Cello and Piano in G minor, Op.19 assumes a naturally dominant presence on the sixty-eight-minute recording, but, in fact, the six standalone pieces make as strong an impression when their melodies, many intensely nostalgic, are so alluring. Included among the works are transcriptions from Rachmaninoff's solo piano material, which Crawford performs on a 200-year-old European cello his grandfather spirited out of Austria before the onset of WWII. The cellist partners terrifically with Asunción, who's established a strong reputation as a soloist and accompanist and appeared on recordings with cellists Joseph Johnson and Evan Drachman in addition to Crawford.

The generally yearning tone of Voice of Rachmaninoff is set by the stirring first piece in the Morceaux de Fantasie, Op. 3, “Elégie.” The combination of Crawford's heartfelt expression and Asunción's hushed accompaniment makes for an entrancing entry-point; noteworthy, too, is the precision of the cellist's articulation and the gracefulness with which he renders the composer's vocal-like melodies. As affecting are “How fair this spot,” the seventh song in Twelve Romances, Op. 21 (1902); “Oh never sing to me again,” from 1893's Six Songs, Op. 4; and the intoxicating eighteenth variation from the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43 (1934)—all three melodically enticing settings that tug at the heart.

Completed in late 1901, the sonata opens and closes with lengthy movements, the thirteen-minute first a panoramic excursion and the twelve-minute fourth as adventurous. The journey gets underway with an emotionally expansive and supplicating “Lento - Allegro Moderato” that builds incrementally in power when it layers one quivering melody upon another. Following that probing examination comes the “Allegro scherzando,” which offers a devilishly playful contrast in tone, and the “Andante,” the work's prettiest and gentlest movement. Suitably energized after that replenishing break, the spirited “Allegro Mosso” leaps to attention and, with the cellist's radiant exclamations buoyed by the pianist's flowing patterns, never loses its effervescent way.

August 2023