The front and back covers of this album show cellist
Sergey Antonov staring upward into space. Perhaps he is searching for liner notes that tell listeners anything about his pianist Ellina Blinder or the set of three
Schumann pieces they are performing on his debut album. For that, listeners will have to really do some searching on
Antonov's website. Or perhaps he's looking for the missing "C" in
Schumann's name on the album's spine (spelled Shumann).
Schumann's three works for cello and piano are standard repertoire choices that have each been recorded time and time again. The trick with
Schumann, however, is not to let it get bogged down and excessively heavy. Regrettably,
Antonov is not successful in this task. Even the potentially lively finales of each of the three works are stodgy and painfully unexciting. Slower movements fair even less well, with
Antonov's tempo selections resulting in excessively drawn-out, overly serious, and cautious interpretations throughout. From a technical viewpoint, however,
Antonov's playing is quite solid. He produces a warm, projecting tone, vibrato is intense but not overdone, intonation is clean and precise, and his right arm is well-articulated. Balance between cello and piano unnecessarily favors the cello;
Antonov's sound is plenty big enough that the piano does not need to be relegated to the shadows. With so many issues with both production and musicianship, and with so many alternate recordings available, listeners have little reason to choose this one.