Truls Mørk ~ Elgar - Cello Concerto · Britten - Cello Symphony / Birmingham SO · Rattle [Import]

Edward Elgar (Artist), Benjamin Britten (Artist), Truls Mørk (Artist), Simon Rattle (Artist), City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 11, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Angel Records
• ASIN: B000026D4N
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #429,398 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truls Mørk Continues to Amaze, August 20, 2006

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Truls Mørk ~ Elgar - Cello Concerto · Britten - Cello Symphony / Birmingham SO · Rattle (Audio CD)

Though most of us came to know the artistry of cellist Truls Mørk via his brilliantly acccomplished recording of the Bach Cello Suites for unaccompanied cello, surveying the library of his recorded works with orchestra demonstrates that not only can he communicate on the intimate scale, but that he also has the sound and the integrity to handle the big concerti as well.

This superb CD pairs the works of two English composers, works about as different as any pairing in the repertoire. The Elgar Cello Concerto in E minor Op. 85, long associated for good reasons with the much missed Jacqueline du Pré, is now one of the most lushly beautiful on record. Mørk has a huge tone that is never pushed beyond the limits of beauty and he knows how to make Elgar's extraordinarily beautiful two Adagio movements sing. The entire work is competently and passionately in is hands and he is beautifully supported by Simon Rattle and the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. This single concerto is reason enough to buy the recording.

But our Norwegian artist does not stop there. Instead he tackles the almost impossible demands of Benjamin Britten's conversation between cello and orchestra, a work full of agitation and ironies and one that can easily fall flat in the hands of a lesser musician. Again Mørk is in utter control of the difficult lines and knows when to allow the stridency to claw as well as how to allow Britten's eloquent melody lines flow in a natural manner. Again, Rattle and his orchestra provide superlative collaboration. This is a recording to treasure - both for the magnificence of the Elgar and the challenge of the Britten. Grady Harp, August 06