Isserlis and his long-term colleague Olli Mustonen make a compelling case for Kabalevsky’s Cello Sonata, finding such expressive drama that for once I was not distracted by the Sonata’s obvious cribs from Shostakovich and Debussy…Isserlis and Mustonen are themselves extraordinary musicians, and both clearly believe in the music they are performing.

Isserlis and Mustonen make a strong case for [the Kabalevsky] in a performance of grand gestures that proves a real roller coaster ride. Isserlis’s intensity and Mustonen’s pianistic weight suit the piece wonderfully well...The Shostakovich Sonata, in contrast, seems spacious and ruminative, particularly when placed beside Rostropovich’s performances with Britten at Aldeburgh...The shorter pieces are also superbly done.

Performances of real integrity and understanding.

With Isserlis's varying choices of tone, their performance [of the Shostakovich] takes on a rhapsodic, wistful mood that is captivating to listen to.Mustonen proves himself to be an ideal partner for these pieces, weighty and powerful when required, and yet also able to pull his sound right back to a barely-audible, percussive attack, particularly the coda of the first movement where he matches Isserlis's hushed tone every step of the way.

Tremendous, incandescent performances of Russian masters

A triumph of a release. With so much passion and adrenalin, you can only wonder how players and crew must have felt at the end of sessions.

It’s a tribute to Steven Isserlis and Olli Mustonen that it’s hard to imagine more thoughtful, well-prepared performances. Yet this is also playing in which everything is “in the moment”...Mustonen brings a composer’s sensibility to his work, and a deep knowledge of these musical worlds from his other life as conductor. Isserlis is en pointe throughout – this is a tremendous partnership.