Customer Reviews

Elgar, Walton: Cello Concertos

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After DuPre's performance of the Elgar cello concerto (EMI/Angel), this is my next favorite performance. It boasts first class digital sound, a conductor and orchestra highly experienced in this kind of repertory, and the man who is arguably the best living cellist. It is less extroverted and fierce than the DuPre, but played with a deep, soulful insight into the music; everyone involved obviously felt the deep sorrow and longing in this music when they made this recording.

Ma gives passionate performances of both Elgar's and Walton's cello concertos, worthy of recognition for both his brilliant technical skills as well as his lyrical playing. I believe I have heard a recent recording of these works with Julian Lloyd Webber as soloist; unfortunately, Webber's playing doesn't resound with the passion coming from Ma. I don't know whether Ma's interpretation of Elgar is better than Du Pre's, but it is still wonderful in its own right (Yet I would not go as far as one previous reviewer in recognizing Ma as our finest living cellist; that honor still belongs to Rostropovich.). Previn and the London Symphony Orchestra give warm, spirited performances of both works, showing their familiarity with these scores.

This Ma performance of the Elgar lets you in on what it was like before the artist started playing the work too much and subjecting it to so many maulings and stages it got sickening. Here we find him sticking fairly close to the composer, and Previn is enough of a disciplinarian that the work's structure as a whole isn't sacrificed to maudlin detail. We get a good, solid, committed, communicative performance, something Ma hasn't been giving us too much lately. If you heard that awful PBS concert of this with the Chicago and Barenboim joining Ma in all the posturing, you'll find this quite refreshing. It won't make you want to junk your supremely eloquent and heartfelt Tortelier, though. And if you're old enough to have the Anthony Pini's around, you're not tossing it either. Some things just can't be bettered.

The Walton here is very fine, wonderfully played, with color, insight, spritz and tingle. Ma gives it an appropriate, straight-ahead freshness that only adds to its stature as one of the greatest works for the instrument. I won't trade in my Piatagorsky, but I'll keep this around as a very good-sounding alternative.

Overall, this is a very worthwhile release which shows honestly why Ma gained all his celebrity.

This version of the Elgar is very well done. I really like the way Ma played this piece and the orchestra is fine. The Walton is less to my liking but certainly on a technical basis (recording quality and musicianship) I have no complaints about this version. I thought the recording quality was overall very good although on a couple of occasions I hear artifactual noises. Recommended for the Elgar.

I'm not sure if there is any piece that sends more waves of emotion over me than Elgar's Cello Concerto. It's a piece unlike almost any other, a look into a rare world of resignation and regret. Yo-Yo Ma and Andre Previn seem to see these potentials in the concerto in a special way. It's not necessarily easy to deliver all the qualities that this concerto asks for, but Ma and Previn have succeeded in pulling at least a large amount of these qualities out. Part of the success of this album is caused by the London Symphony, which rules supreme in almost anything British. Their rich, dark quality couldn't be more suited to these concertos. Previn is able to lead them in a performance that thrives in creating a nostalgic look at the past. He has a special knack for making the music always sound distantly dreamy. That's not to say that he's falling asleep--far from it. He's more than ready to unleash powerful drama in the climaxes, just with an obvious control the keeps all the autumnal qualities in.

And then there is Ma. This is a younger Ma, and one could guess as much from the youthful exuberance he has. But you want more than youthfulness in this concerto, as it asks for a strong maturity. Thankfully, Ma belies his age and delivers sensitivity that keeps the piece from sounding loose. What's more, he sees much more than the mere printed note, as his tone is full of pain and retrospection. Combine his youthfulness with his sensitivity and you get just the right balance. I'm left very pleased with his efforts.

The following Walton Concerto is less touching the Elgar. Still, it is a fine piece, one that is even darker than the Elgar, sometimes reaching despair. Most of the things I said about Ma and Previn in the Elgar apply here, although I should add that they have a gift of delving into the piece in a way that allows all the despair to come forth, but they combine it with moments of hope. Despair and hope don't usually go together, but Ma and Previn seem to have found a way to make it work.

In closing, this is a wonderful disc. In the Elgar especially, our performers have wonderful things to say about what has to be the greatest music ever written for the cello.