TAS Audiophile Demo Disc! TAS Recommended! Rated a 'Best Audiophile Label Recording' in the November 2009 issue of The Absolute Sound!
This SACD will play on all 2 channel (stereo) SACD players.
I still find it striking that when we are asked for a typically romantic cello concerto, we think immediately of Dvorak, or even of Elgar, even though these works were composed respectively in 1895 and 1919, while the truly romantic cello concerti are actually those by Schumann (1850), Saint-Saens (1870), and Tchaikovsky (1876). It would appear, then, that there are considerable misapprehensions about the nature of romanticism and the 19th century. In any case, the last three works mentioned above do not present the cello as a primarily autumnal and nostalgic instrument. Singing, yes, expressive, yes, but also agile and flexible. Moreover, the weakness that I have for these pieces comes from their attraction for me in the intriguing counterpoint of passion and ironic elegance, enthusiasm and civilization, a style in which, on one hand, aristocracy and on the other, sensuality and passion, play into each other's hands. Under the surface, feelings of fear, regret, protest, and impossible longing play their roles, but the balance between intoxication and discipline predominates. - Pieter Wispelwey
Musicians: Peter Wispelwey, cello; Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen conducted by Daniel Sepec.
Selections: Camille Saint-Saens' Cello Concerto No.1 in A minor, Op.33: Allegro non troppo, Allegretto con moto, Allegro non troppo. Tchaikovsky's Andante Cantabile, Op.2, Variations on a Rococo Theme, Op.33: Theme, Variations 1-7. Max Bruch's Kol Nidrei, Op.47.
