HEINRICH SCHIFF, CELLIST
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra / Schiff conducts and plays
Shostakovich Cello Concerto No.1 / Weill Threepenny Opera Suite / Schumann Symphony No.2
“Toscanini, Casals, Barbirolli, Rostropovich: all cellists who became conductors, two of them great ones. To that quartet we must now add Heinrich Schiff…
Schiff gave us a reading [of Shostakovich’s First Cello Concerto] of unflashy expressiveness, sustained and pungent, summoning an orchestral collaboration of driving precision. The central cadenza was a particularly moving highlight, Schiff responsive to the ruminative restraint of the composer’s thinking.
From the scarcely-disguised political irony of this Cold War piece we moved to the Third Reich satire of Weill’s Threepenny Opera Suite, Schiff’s throwaway directing perfectly capturing the sarcasm of this fractured score aching with suppressed warmth…
Schumann’s Second… is a difficult piece to make work. Its central movements are more easily memorable than the selfconscious strugglings of the outer ones, but Schiff’s determined advocacy made the whole interpretation one of a piece...”
Birmingham Post, October 2008
Alban Berg Quartet Farewell Concert, Queen Elizabeth Hall / Schubert String Quintet in C
“…cellist Heinrich Schiff joined them for the String Quintet in C. Many have argued that this is the definitive lineup for the work: very few performances, I suspect, have articulated what George Steiner called its "griefs and ceremonies" with quite such force as we experienced on this occasion. Calm became tragedy in a flash. Schiff, taking the first cello part, consequently became the effective outsider in the Andante, his reiterated pizzicatos underscoring the phrases of his colleagues with intimations of both obsession and consolation. This was a tremendous interpretation…”
The Guardian, June 2008
National Symphony / Minczuk / Shostakovich Cello Concerto No.1
"… for its concert last night at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, the NSO brought in Heinrich Schiff, one of the few cellists who can stand comparison with Slava... from the opening bars of the concerto, he showed truly impressive command of and feeling for this music. Schiff made the brusque four-note motif that opens the concerto incisive and driving, launching a first movement filled with rich detail yet charged with momentum...the slower melodies of the Moderato blossomed with unfussy poise in Schiff's hands, and during the long solo cadenza, he made the silences around his soft pizzicato notes as dramatic as his most fevered virtuoso flourishes..."
The Washington Post, November 2007
Recital, St George’s Bristol / Bach Cello Suites
“While [Schiff’s] virtuosity was most apparent in the preludes and the final gigues, for Schiff the emotional core of the Suites resided in the Sarabandes. He delivered them with grace and composure, radiating their purity, particularly heartfelt in his encore of the Sarabande from Suite No 3 in C minor.
The intimacy and immediacy of these suites was intense, but Schiff's demeanour was one of great humility, concerned only to suggest that Bach's is the music of the spheres.”
The Guardian, July 2007
Hallé Orchestra / Rory Macdonald conducts Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 2 / Schiff conducts Brahms Symphony No.2
“Heinrich Schiff was the soloist in Shostakovich’s enigmatic Second Cello Concerto. Playing with a delicious, resonant tone throughout, Schiff dominated with some wonderful Cadenze playing … the beauty of this performance was all in the detail. Fanfare from the two horns and the brooding melancholy that underpinned all the work, added to Schiff’s sheer presence, made this performance a rewarding one. Schiff himself finally took up the baton for the second half …Pure lyricism throughout, yearning cellos, a delightful, pastoral Intermezzo and a boisterous finale gave to Schiff as much success as conductor as he had as soloist.”
Musical Opinion, January 2007
EMI Schubert String Quintet Recording with Alban Berg Quartet
"Confined to only one recording, my vote would go to the Alan Berg Quartet with Heinrich Schiff; a performance that reconciles romantic expressiveness with a classical sense of architecture. As ever, the Alan Berg are ultra-scrupulous in their balancing of voices and their adherence to Schubert’s markings. The famous theme in the first movement is truly pianissimo, with the first violin flickering like a will o’ the wisp above the dulcet cellos. The adagio is as ethereal as Schubert can have envisaged, the scherzo is magnificently rugged, while the finale’s hazy floating episodes have never sounded more magical."
The Daily Telegraph, September 2005