Customer Reviews

Romantic Cello Favorites

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Let's face it: David Popper is not Brahms. However, his compositions are well known to anyone who has ever studied the cello as some of the most technically challenging pieces ever written for the instrument. Some of the music, such as the Hungarian Rhapsody, is very good indeed. And clearly Popper was instrumental in showing the versatility and range of the cello--leading the way for later composers such as Kodaly. If you want to be versed in the culture of the cello, this recording is a must.

There is only one cellist alive who could have made this record. I know Rostropovich is famous for playing the Elfentanz as an encore--I've heard him do it. In fact I have a recording of him playing it at a tempo even faster than Starker plays it on this record (which is saying something). With Starker, however, every individual note speaks with discernible clarity. You can hear what Popper actually wrote. If you are a cello student or devotee, you should own this recording and "The Road to Cello Playing" released by Parnassus.

Cello and piano playing is wonderful; sound recording is terrible. I cannot believe this recording made it to the marketplace. The sound engineer must have placed the mike at about the level of the sternum on Starker. You can hear him inhaling in many of the recordings ...... very distracting. What a shame to spoil what would otherwise have been a great performance.