Customer Reviews

The Road To Cello Playing +

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

 

 

If you are an aspiring cellist and want a role model to follow or just want to hear how these etudes SHOULD sound OR enjoy listening to a virtuosic performance then this is the CD for you! Starker is the one cellist who can play techically as well as artistically. Even Yo Yo Ma has not attempted this genre! Enjoyable listening experience. Fun to follow the music as well. Well worth the money.

This is a truly amazing recording! I have looked all over for a CD of Popper etudes and as far as I can tell this is the only recording of it's kind. Starker's amazing technique and intonation make this CD a real gem. I only wish he recorded all 40 Popper etudes!!

The great Janos Starker has been an incomparable inspiration for countless cellists. The Road To Cello Playing was a generous gesture on Mr. Starker's part that gives all cellists perspective into the self-discipline and consistent hard work (even with the most talented) required to be
a truly great instrumentalist and artist. This is the only CD of it's kind and Mr. Starker presents the world of etudes, caprices, studies and solo sonatas in a vast, musical panorama.

Those who don't own The Road To Cello Playing are passing by a window into the private, lonely world of one of the greatest cellists of all time.

Starker proceeds through a couple of dozen of the standard etudes for cello, from the basic through the astonishingly difficult, and plays them in such a way that -- for me, at least, hearing this recording for the first time maybe 5 or 6 years into my own cello playing -- one's conception of what is possible on the instrument is literally redefined. (Starker's recording of the Kodaly solo sonata and violin/cello duo was another such one for me.) The album is both daunting and inspiring in that regard. It is wonderful to hear a player of his level go through things you yourself (if you are a cellist) are likely to encounter as you progress through your lessons and as a player.

Recordings of the Hindemith and Cassado pieces for solo cello are wonderful bonuses.

Even for non-cellists (at least those interested in hearing what can be done on the instrument unaccompanied) this would be a good, if slightly academic, recording to augment the typical Bach Suites, etc.

To hear a master play the simple through advanced etudes and studies is wonderful. Too bad the recording quality doesn't live up to the music.