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Product Description
2CD Works By Elgar/Bloch/Kabalevsky/Tchaikovsky/R.Strauss
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This is a truly wonderful cd. Steven's interpretation of the Elgar, is almost in the same legue as Du Pre's. Schelomo is such a beatiful track & the Kabelevsky is fast and exicting. Tchaikovsky's rococo variations are pretty and elegant & Don Quixote, Well this recording is this best you can find out there off the piece, with Steven's wonderful playing & nobody can play the Clarinet solo's as well as Burt Hara, of the Minnesota Orchestra. Steven is an extraordinary player, and this cd shows that. This cd is ideal for any cellist or even just music lover in general. The only thing that let it down is that sound quality isn't that great, and you have turn the volume up high, just to hear it.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This is an excellent recording of several compositions for cello and orchestra, some of which are well known to audiences, and some much less well known. The recording of the Elgar Concerto rivals the inspiration of Jacqueline Du Pre's much earlier recording, but I especially enjoyed the Don Quixote and Kabalevsky recordings which demonstrate how exciting and enjoyable these works are, and how much they deserve to be performed much more frequently in public concerts. Steven Isserlis has a remarkable technical facility combined with wonderful sensitivity and power.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
This recital comprises, they tell me, the complete oeuvre of Saint-Saens for cello and orchestra. It contains even more, in the shape of a `priere' for cello with organ, and in the symphonic poem La Muse et le Poete the cello soloist Steven Isserlis is partnered tastefully by Joshua Bell on his violin.
Good taste is the hallmark of everything here, from the composer, from the soloists, from the orchestra and from Francis Grier on the organ. Nothing is de trop, and the recorded sound (various dates in the 90's) is beautiful in quality and seemingly in total sympathy with the music entrusted to it. Vigour is certainly called for sometimes, notably in the second concerto, but such an artist as Isserlis can despatch the technical demands with effortless power and without compromising his sangfroid and poise. Right at the start I thought that the solo was rather forward, in much the way we were used to for decades, but this impression does not persist and I am prepared to be contradicted about it (not that I ever minded that kind of concerto balance anyway). The second movement of the first work is written by the composer in a way that relegates the orchestra to a quiet background role, so the cello ought to be prominent there in any case, and my initial impression does not come back to me anywhere later in the recital.
There is a liner note by Michael Steinberg that is perfectly adequate as long as it sticks with the music, that is to say right up to the short last paragraph, which Steinberg inflicts on the soloist. Not only does he use the ghastly expression `classy', he finishes by telling us that Isserlis has `the most individual voice among cellists today', adding triumphantly `What more could one want?' Seeing he asks, I'd say that less of this ill-judged peroration would have been more.
Good taste is the hallmark of everything here, from the composer, from the soloists, from the orchestra and from Francis Grier on the organ. Nothing is de trop, and the recorded sound (various dates in the 90's) is beautiful in quality and seemingly in total sympathy with the music entrusted to it. Vigour is certainly called for sometimes, notably in the second concerto, but such an artist as Isserlis can despatch the technical demands with effortless power and without compromising his sangfroid and poise. Right at the start I thought that the solo was rather forward, in much the way we were used to for decades, but this impression does not persist and I am prepared to be contradicted about it (not that I ever minded that kind of concerto balance anyway). The second movement of the first work is written by the composer in a way that relegates the orchestra to a quiet background role, so the cello ought to be prominent there in any case, and my initial impression does not come back to me anywhere later in the recital.
There is a liner note by Michael Steinberg that is perfectly adequate as long as it sticks with the music, that is to say right up to the short last paragraph, which Steinberg inflicts on the soloist. Not only does he use the ghastly expression `classy', he finishes by telling us that Isserlis has `the most individual voice among cellists today', adding triumphantly `What more could one want?' Seeing he asks, I'd say that less of this ill-judged peroration would have been more.
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4.6 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fabulous music
I bought this in advance of my nephew's performance of Cello Concerto no. 1. It is the most beautiful and moving music, and I play it over and over. Read more
Published 9 days ago by Ms. L. E. James
2.0 out of 5 stars
Dont bother
Its a 2 disc set and the first disc is dreadful.The 2nd is better but not by much.I wish I hadn't bought it.
Published 2 months ago by Big Al
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent performances of Saint-Saen's major works for cello and...
Saint-Saens' famous first cello concerto has long been a favourite of mine: from a melodic point of view it is insistently memorable and it is, I think, one of the most successful... Read more
Published 2 months ago by J. A. Peacock
5.0 out of 5 stars
A total delight
Such wonderful music and such glorious playing! The highlights for me are the sweet and succinct (and I suspect very difficult to play) 2nd Cello Concerto and the beautiful tone... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Pensato
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