HiFi Critic
I first encountered the constituent parts of the Oyster Duo – pianist Anna Fedorova and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra double bass player Nicky Schwartz – at a recording session for the former’s Channel Classics début release, Four Fantasies.
Invited by the label’s founder, Jared Sacks, I listened in to the sessions in Eindhoven’s Muziekgebouw (and to Schwartz rehearsing in the ‘green room’). Spent the evening with them at the Sacks house, and next morning watched with amusement as Schwartz trundled his ‘big fiddle’ on its single wheel onto the train from Einhoven back to Amsterdam – they home, me to the airport.
Since then, the two have become even more of a duo. They were married some time back, and now have released this first album as the Oyster Duo, again for Channel Classics. And a thrilling set it is too.
Opening with Ginastera’s suite of five Argentinian songs, and encompassing pieces from Gershwin and Bloch to Shostakovich, Schumann, and Schubert – all pieces written for other instruments but arranged by the pair over the past five years. This well-rehearsed repertoire sounds fabulous, from the impact and delicacy of Fedorova’s piano to the rich resonance of Schwartz’s bass., all captured beautifully in the studio by engineer Jochem Geene, recording the music straight to DXD.
There’s some serious bass weight on this album, and on the wrong system this can swamp the more delicate pianism at times. But find a set up with both low-end extension and control, and it sounds superb.
Andrew Everard
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