Amazon.co.uk Review
Blistering teamwork is just one of the keys to the unbridled success of Truls Mørk and Sir Simon Rattle's performance of Britten's
Cello Symphony (one of the composer's craggiest masterpieces, written in 1963 for the great Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich). Enviably taut concentration goes hand in hand with a scrupulous fidelity to both the letter and spirit of Britten's troubled score, to produce a reading which challenges even the classic Rostropovich/Britten version on Decca in its questing spirit and comprehensive emotional scope. The beautifully balanced sound, too, is an enormous boon. This performance finds the uncommonly thoughtful, nobly eloquent Norwegian soloist on imperious form--and Rattle and his admirably dapper band locate a wealth of stimulating detail in the subtly flecked orchestral canvas--but your goose-bumps will be only intermittently activated as the performance is perhaps over-prepared to a fault, possessing neither the devastating candour of EMI's evergreen
Du Pré/Barbirolli recording nor the affecting restraint of both the
Isserlis/Hickox and Wispelwey/van Steen versions (on Virgin Ultraviolet and Channel Classics respectively). If the coupling appeals, however, don't hesitate for a moment.
--Andrew Achenbach
