Big Deals - singer Thomas Quasthoff; cellist Natalia Gutman

National Review, July 29, 2002 by Jay Nordlinger

Fasten, for a moment, on a disc devoted to Mendelssohn. With the pianist Elisso Wirssaladze, Gutman plays a transcription of one of the Songs Without Words. She uses a big, warm, soulful tone, and the entire piece is beautifully "breathed," a song indeed. Here is a musician who pays careful attention to dynamics: and yet, "careful attention" doesn't seem right, because there is no calculation or self-consciousness in Gutman. The music simply comes out right -- as if there were no other way to do it.

Next we have Mendelssohn's Cello Sonata in D Major, Op. 58, a fine work seldom heard. Gutman is exciting, passionate, refined, assured. She conveys this composer's famous sunniness and easygoingness, as well as his contented genius. Gutman has loads of virtuosity -- nothing is beyond her, technically -- but we may take it for granted. The notes are in the bag. What remains is sheer musical expressiveness.

To complete the disc is a trio with Kagan and Wirssaladze -- a happy collaboration.

In the world at large, Gutman may be unsung: but as more people hear her in the flesh, and on her recordings, she will grow more "sung," a cellist of the first rank, a performer regarded by other musicians as a model.