Kian Soltani and SWR Symphonieorchester - Schumann Cello Concerto op 129

Kian Soltani Schumann Cello Concerto performance

When one asks me who my favorite modern cellist is, my answer always seems to vary on what time it is, what kind of breakfast I had, what concerto I listened to the night before, etc etc. It is constantly fluctuating from cellists like Zlatomir Fung to Santiago Canon Valencia; I really adore all these drastically different musicians. However, one cellist I can consistently call my favorite out of all these cellists is Kian Soltani. See, with cellists like Santiago Canon Valencia and Andrei Ionita, they are very very good at a few specific aspects of the cello repertoire, however in terms of other aspects they can often fall short (Santiago's otherworldly virtuosic left hand technique makes him amazing at the likes of Paganini, Piatti, Kodaly, and many other solo cello works, however due to his unorthodox right hand and limited vibrato he falls short when it comes to repertoire like the Dvorak Cello Concerto, where a cannon like sound is necessary). My liking to those cellists, as I have mentioned before, really depends on what kind of music I currently like most (Baroque, contemporary, etc). 

Zlatomir Fung

                            

                                                            Santiago Canon Valencia 

Andrei Ionita 

With Kian however, he is truly a jack of all trades. My God, is he impeccable at every aspect of the cello repertoire. His primary teacher was Ivan Monighetti, one of Rostropovich's greatest students, who obviously seems to have taught Kian (and Sol Gabetta, another phenomenal cellist) the most important aspects of cello technique. His left hand is of course perfect when it comes to intonation, and he also possesses a very powerful, multicolored vibrato capable of producing all sorts of feelings and moods (I truly believe this comes from Monighetti and Rostropovich). As he is a Jack of all trades, he of course has a phenomenal interpretation of Schumann. 

                             A young Sol Gabetta with Ivan Monighetti and Rostropovich :)))

In the first movement, Kian begins the dramatic concerto with his youthful exuberance and innate musical humor. In the most dramatic lines he is able to use his great fundamental technique to make a deep, penetrating sound full of rich vibrato. There is tremendous vivacity in his playing of the first movement, and overall Kian offers up the right mood, energy, and technical clarity to perform a very great first movement of the concerto. 

Kian's beautiful bow hold; great fundamental right hand.

Before I mention the second movement, I shall discuss the third. In the third movement, Kian plays incredibly; the vivacity, youthful exuberance, and musical humor that I mentioned in the first movement is dialed up to 11 and Soltani just puts on a spectacular show. With Kian's cannon-like sound, he is able to pierce through the huge symphony part; like a lone hero through a giant storm. His technical virtuosity is shown in full force here as well, running through all of the incredibly difficult technical parts of the movement and not falling behind or rushing ahead of the orchestra. Overall, he is able to keep great pace and energy alive while going through arguably one of the most difficult and uncomfortable movements in a romantic cello concerto. 

Ok, onto the second movement. To be blunt, this was my least favorite movement played by Kian among the three. Don't get me wrong, he plays this extremely beautifully, his phrasing is perfect, everything is objectively great, however I feel as if in some of the most important pianissimo moments in the second movement Kian still has too much youthful exuberance that have been seen in the first and third movement. This makes sense, as Kian is still a young man, and probably doesn't have the same musical depth yet as Rostropovich in his late 60's per say (this is not bashing Kian at all, I just believe there comes some important musical depth with more age and experience). In some parts, I would prefer if Kian would take it a little slower, perhaps under tempo, to really en-capture the extremely melancholic yet beautiful musical ideas Schumann introduces in this movement. I believe this is the very difficult part of the Schumann cello concerto. It is important to have all these different aspects of youthful technical vivacity, humor, and extreme musical depth and maturity. Kian has all this besides a little musical depth in some moments, however due to his age I really don't judge him, as its pretty reasonable. For his age, his musical maturity is obviously astounding. 

                                  Rostropovich's huge and expressive Schumann cello concerto

Schumann was an extremely dark, troubled individual. He faced many demons in his life, and has been in and out of mental institutions. I personally believe that his cello concerto encapsulates all his complex emotions of insanity, of despair, of hope, etc. Kian expertly performs with true technical tenacity (almost to the point of insanity), and he plays with beautiful warmth and humor in some moments (to encapsulate the hope), however lacks the true depths of Schumann's despair and tragedy. Ultimately this is an extremely successful performance, however like wine I believe with time and age and experience, Kian's performance of this concerto will become far greater.