Classicalsource.com (en) – 2008
31-year-old Tatjana Vassiljeva was born in Novosibirsk and is, as yet, relatively little known despite having performed with a variety of distinguished conductors. If what we heard on this occasion is anything to go by, all that is about to change, for her playing had the charisma and projection of the young Rostropovich at the height of his powers. Prokofiev’s Symphony-Concerto is not the easiest work to bring off. Not only does the solo part place titanic demands on the cellist but the work itself lacks immediately appealing melodies (such as those in the Fifth Symphony).
Any such considerations were swept aside with Vassiljeva’s first entrance – power, beauty of tone and charisma combining to a point where a whole audience was grabbed by its collective throats and was hanging on every note. This was undoubtedly a great performance, the LSO rising to the occasion in hot pursuit, and was all the more valuable for the fact that justice was finally done to a great but neglected work.
Douglas Cooksey – Classicalsource.com
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