Prokofiev & Stravinsky: On Stage Analekta, March 2006

Yegor Dyachkov, cello
Jean Saulnier, piano

album reviews

Dyachkov a tout compris : il joue avec des coups d'archet légers et brefs quand il le faut et, surtout, il met en avant la vivacité, le caractère bondissant, dansant, de cette musique néoclassique. Cette différence entre une musique trop soulignée, au point d'en perdre sa saveur, et d'une approche plus simple et naturelle vaut pour tout le disque. On peut donc conseiller ces Scènes de Russie de Dyachkov et Saulnier, qui viennent de paraître et comportent des transcriptions de scènes de ballets de Prokofiev et de Stravinski.

Christophe Huss, Le Devoir, Montréal, 2006

This is a very interesting record both in concept and execution. Except for Prokofiev's Ballade, Op. 15, for cello and piano, all the pieces on the program are excerpts from the two composers' operas and ballets. The transcriptions, two of them the composers' own, are remarkably good. The dominance of one instrument over the other makes it easy to guess whether the arranger is a cellist or a pianist. Thus, Piatigorski's arrangement of Stravinsky's "Suite italienne," from the ballet Pulcinella, is a staple of the cello bravura repertoire and it works well here, while Jean Saulnier, the record's pianist, leaves the cellist struggling in his brilliantly pianistic, almost orchestral, transcription of two dances from Prokofiev's ballet Romeo and Juliet. There are also excerpts from two little-known comedies: a suite from Prokofiev's ballet The Tale of the Buffoon, and the theme from Stravinsky's opera Mavra. Apart from occasional imperfect balance, the playing is terrific technically, tonally, and musically.

The two artists' unanimous ensemble proves that they are regular partners who succeed in combining virtuosity with close rapport and in enjoying flourishing careers separately and together.

Edith Eisler, Strings Magazine, 2006

This disc convincingly makes chamber music of ballet – sometimes with the authority of the composer (the Adagio from Prokofiev's Cinderella and Stravinsky's Pulcinella Suite). Prokofiev's familiar Romeo and Juliet music sounds like a high-end sonata as performed by the Montreal cello-and-piano team of Yegor Dyachkov and Jean Saulnier (the latter did most of the arranging). Feeling is tempered with intelligence and the balance of the two artists (Dyachkov velvety and Saulnier crystalline) is consistently just. There is an aura of integrity around this program, superbly recorded at the Domaine Forget.
★★★★½ |  2nd on the 20 top albums of the Year 2006 list, as chosen by the author

Arthur Kaptanis, The Gazette, Montréal, 2006

C'est un programme particulièrement intéressant que propose ici le duo Saulnier-Dyachkov : des chants et danses tirés des ballets et opéras de deux grandes figures de la musique russe du xxe siècle, Prokofiev et Stravinski. Les transcriptions pour violoncelle et piano n’enlèvent rien aux couleurs de ces musiques, qui conservent également tout leur potentiel dramatique. Certaines de ces transcriptions ont été réalisées par les compositeurs eux-mêmes. C'est le cas de l'Adagio extrait du ballet Cendrillon (Prokofiev) et de la Suite italienne tirée par Stravinski de son ballet Pulcinella. Quant aux interprètes, leur entente est parfaite. Ils peuvent extraire de leurs instruments toutes les couleurs de l'orchestre et donner vie aux images que renferment ces œuvres.
★★★★★

Isabelle Picard, Scena Musicale, 2006