Amazon.co.uk allows you to pay for your items in your local currency. Restrictions apply. Learn More. |
Product details
|
Track Listings
| 1. Don Quixote |
| 2. Romance for cello and orchestra |
| 3. Sonata for cello and piano |
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Cellist Steven Isserlis plays three youthful works by Richard Strauss on this disc recorded in March 2000. They show what a mature and confident young man was the composer. The first and most substantial piece is the programmatic Don Quixote from 1897. The cello takes the part of the blithe deluded squire. There is a bounce in Isserlis' bow as he emerges from the crowded introduction to state the mock-heroic theme. He is an actor, taking on a role. His witty sleeve notes are an amusing guide to the sequence of events, but it is his music that paints the moods in such vivid colours. The long noble theme has Elgarian breadth but with a disruptive skip in the underlying parts like a snigger at the back of the class. The Cello Sonata in F dates from even earlier. Isserlis plays it with Stephen Hough combining with his pianist like the best of friends, sharing themes on an equal basis, commiserating in the bleak D-minor slow movement, sparring with jokey goodwill in the finale. --Rick Jones
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon U.K.
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3.7 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great performances. Recording flawed., 11 Oct 2005
By Tom Gossard - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Strauss R - Cello Works (Audio CD)
[...]I have to turn up the volume so high to hear the soft passages, then turn it down again when the music gets louder. It really spoils the enjoyment. Even at very high settings, the subtle details are practically inaudible.
Too bad, since I like Maazel's and Isserlis's interpretations very much.
It might just be my equipment, though it is very competent. So I recommend buying this CD, but keep your receipt.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Strauss's mad knight sallies forth on four cylinders, 10 Jun 2006
By Santa Fe Listener - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Strauss R - Cello Works (Audio CD)
Maazel recorded most of Strauss's major orchestral works for RCA with his Bavarian Radio orchestra, the great attraction being state-of-the-art sonics. That's certainly the case here--this recording boasts enormous dynamic range and crystal-clear detail. Every instrument sounds natural and evokes its real color and timbre. I doubt there's another Don Quixote to compare with it.
Though he is recorded larger than life, Isserlis doesn't put on a bravura performance in the vein of Rostropovich. It's difficult to find a niche in the era of superstar cellists, and Isserlis goes the other way, preferring modest, even self-effacing musicianship. Maazel underplays the splashy orchestral part, so all in all, this performance seems overly cautious. I'm not sure Strauss wanted the mad Don to be sedate, but he's certainly sensitive and accurately played. After one listen, I think my only reason to return would be the sonics.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Really evocative music, perfect playing, a great recording, 19 Nov 2003
By C. Dyer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Strauss R - Cello Works (Audio CD)
You can't go wrong with this recording of the Don Quixote. Isserlis delivers another perfect recording, with such unflinching attention to artistic detail you can hardly help but weep. It would be hard even to conceive of music that is more evocative of Quixote's misadventures with bleating sheep, battling windmills, and Benedictine monks. But, despite all the high-tech special orchestral effects, the story's touching heart is never compromised.The other works on the recording are also nothing to ignore. The sonata, composed when Strauss was still a student, is given a very fresh reading. The Romance, although performed flawlessly, is, in comparison to the adventures depicted on the rest of the CD, a rather static affair.
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
