The 20th-Century Cello

Benjamin Britten (Composer), George Crumb (Composer), Anton Webern (Composer), Henri Dutilleux (Composer), Claude Debussy (Composer), Max Reger (Composer), Paul Hindemith (Composer), Mario Davidovsky (Composer), Roger Sessions (Composer), John Harbison (Composer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Composer: Benjamin Britten, George Crumb, Anton Webern, Henri Dutilleux, Claude Debussy, et al.
• Audio CD (August 9, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 3
• Label: Deutsche Grammophon
• ASIN: B0009A420A
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #85,678 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #13 in Music > Classical > Historical Periods > Modern, 20th, & 21st Century > Composers > Reger, Max

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great playing, great listening, August 11, 2005

By 

Xyp (Cincinnati, OH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The 20th-Century Cello (Audio CD)

This set has wonderful qualities on quite a few levels.

What you have here are clear modern renditions of pieces by some of the best known composing names of the last century, recorded in modern sound by one of my personal favorite cellists around today. Haimovitz always brings a very clearheaded yet informed approach to his readings (Not to mention daring- I highly recommend his readings of the Bach Solo Cello Suites) but I think what impresses me most of all here is his musicality and sense of structure. A few of these works could quite easily be reduced to meaningless gibberish by a lesser musician, but Haimovitz sails through them with assurance and style. He seems to have very clear ideas about the way things should sound... but moreover, he sounds like he's having fun, and it comes across.

I would highly recommend this set even at regular price, but for 3 CDs at midprice, it can't be beat.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unbelievable bargain, hard-to-find works, September 16, 2009

By 

Bartolo (New York City, New York USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Twentieth-Century Cello (MP3 Download)

The reviewer who gave this 3-disc set only 3 stars may be correct that, if you hunt around and spend $40-50, you might collect better performances of some of these works, but you certainly couldn't find all without an outlay of quite a bit more, necessarily for o/p items and rarities. I myself already own two versions of the Britten suites, a couple of definitive Kodaly sonatas, the Sessions, three Hindemiths and a so-so Britten sonata version. (Haimowitz is first-rate on this last)

But the price of this set is so good ($6 per CD!) that it was well worth duplications to have the others. By my lights the Debussy, Dutilleux, Reger, Davidovsky, Ligeti, Webern, Crumb, Harbison, Britten "Sacher," Henze and Perle are performed wonderfully, not only with virtuosity but passion when required.

The sound transcription is first-rate too: Deutsche Grammofon DDD engineering.

In short: one of the best finds I've made all year!

14 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Average playing, music of different quality, August 1, 2008

By 

Anton Zimmerling "Sturla" (Moscow, Russia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The 20th-Century Cello (Audio CD)

I purchased this set because I love cello and am interested in music of the 20th- century. I have also read good comments about the artist, Matt Haimovitz, a pupil of Leonard Rose.
I was very disappointed - not by the music selection, but by the performance. I have another Haimovitz's CD called 'Goulash' Matt Haimovitz: Goulash- despite this kitschy name, it is a good CD which proves that Matt Haimovitz is a nice young man who enjoys playing Bartok and folk-style arrangements. But here, in the 'The 20th-Century Cello', he got a strange idea that being modern means to play with little/no vibrato and an unpleasant scratchy sound. If this is true, I am against modern cello...
Turning to the programme: it is a mixed bag which contains both great and second-rate music. Kodaly's sonata for solo cello, op. 8, is a masterpiece, but I would not have said that if I knew only Haimovitz's version. Go to Pierre Fournier's great live performance (available on the Praga label Pr 50065 Kodály: Musique de chambre), Janos Starker or other less 'modern' and more exciting cellists. Max Reger's classicist suite Op.131C is a very vivid and bright thing (try Emanuel Feuermann on Opus Kura, if you are not afraid of vintage sound Beethoven: Kreutzer Sonata; Schubert: Arpeggione Sonata), but Haimovitz managed to make it dry and unappealing. If you are a fan of Britten's chamber music, buy his three cello suites with Truls Mork (Truls Mørk ~ Britten - Cello Suites 1-3); the first two ones, along with Britten's cello sonata, are available with Rostropovich/Britten on Decca. This performance adds nothing. Debussy's sonata is available in many good recordings, as well as Webern's Op. 11. As for the music commissioned by Rostropovich for Paul Sacher's jubilee (Britten, Berio, Dutilleux, Henze), it is earnest and admirable but difficult to love: I guess it is more interesting to play it than listen to. Finally, Ligety's cello sonata is an early piece, where the composer has not yet found his unique style. The rest of the programme are less known compositions by Sessions, Harbison, Davidovsky and Perle. From these, I enjoyed John Harbison's cello suite - an energetic concise piece which is less pretencious than many other items in Matt Haimovitz's selection.
Buy this CD, if you collect rarities or have a special purpose. Otherwise, try its alternatives.