The Cello Bug

Truls Mork Dvorak Cello Concerto Performance I absolutely adore the new young cello soloists rising today. Cellists like Kian Soltani, Pablo Fernandez, Andrei Ionita, etc are all tremendous musicians in their own right and are immensely gifted, however no modern cellist has really struck me as particularly dominant over the other in overall music (like how Rostropovich was in his time, and how he still is today). However, with Truls Mork, there seems to be what I have been looking for.  Rostropovich is the greatest cellist of all time and my favorite cellist of all time. The range of vibrato and the sounds he could produce from his cello (from the quietest pianissimo to the loudest forte) was unmatched, as well as his technical virtuosity. With Truls Mork, I see the mark of Rostropovich in his technique; perhaps this was due to one of his teachers being the legendary Natalya Shakhovskaya (one of the greatest students of Rostropovich who also had similar sound/technique to him)....

 Rastrelli Cello Quartet Tchaikovsky Andante Cantabile performance The Rastrelli Cello Quartet holds a very dear place in my heart. My mother (cellist Seongheui Jeon) studied alongside three of the cellists out of the quartet including the great Kira Kraftzoff, under the great teacher Anatoly Nikitin at the great St. Petersburg Conservatory. As I grew up listening to the very ‘Russian’ sound my mother produced from her cello, I realized it was shockingly similar to the sound produced by the Rastrelli Cello Quartet. The thin, wispy, melancholic yet warm sound was familiar and beautiful to my ears.                                                                         My mother, cellist Seongheui Jeon       St. Petersburg conservatory alumni This extr...