The Strad

In Bach+, as the set’s title suggests, Heinen intersperses the suites with works by other composers. His Bach is more nimble-footed than Georgian’s [another new release], with the First Suite coming in nearly six minutes faster. His sound is also lighter, almost feathery, and he favours a very clipped style of playing in which the strings sometimes barely speak properly. Heinen himself states that Bach is a lure to introduce listeners to the other works here. The first of them, and the most substantial, is Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s 1960 Sonata for solo cello, a gnomic, disjointed and occasionally spectral work that Heinen dispatches with authority. In the nine very short movements of the final work, Henze’s Serenade for solo cello, Heinen shows lyricism, charm and humour. Elsewhere he tackles the daunting technical demands of Simon Holt’s Feet of Clay with great control and narrative flair, deftly negotiates Gerald Barry’s busy Triorchic Blues and brings wonderful delicacy to the little sketches that make up Howard Skempton’s Six Figures for solo cello. The recorded sound is clean and close.

—Tim Homfay