Friday 30 April 2010

Dvorak - Cello Concerto [Lloyd Webber/ Neumann-Czech Philharmonic Orchestra]

The British Cellist Julian Lloyd Webber has made a wonderful recording here, i enjoyed all three movements to an excellent high degree, amazed by the genius and tunefulness of Dvorak.

Also i really like the booklet shot, i take it it's the Vltava river in Prague, with the old city in the background, it's the front to back perspective [background/foreground], the left to right railings, it has depth and width, and the colours are pleasing, others probably just see a photo!.

For me the slow Adagio epitomises Dvorak at his romantic best, it starts off with the most tender achingly woodwind intro [0:00-0:33], full of pathos and yearning, the cello makes its entry, and then the clarinet/woodwind come back in, and there's a lovely dialogue with the cello [0:57-1:24], what an opening!, probably the highlight of this movement, there's a nice inventive passage early on [2:48-3:45], it starts off with forte strings and brass [2:48+], and then the cello has a free flowing melody, while the strings are busy in the background [3:00+], and it ends with the flutes and cello in dialogue [3:26], Dvorak must have thought highly of it, as he repeats the whole thing [4:24, 4:39 & 5:05], but of course with different variations/combinations, there's a wistfulness about the closing pages, a superb and satisfying slow movement.

Here's Lloyd Webber recording the end of the first movement of this very recording on YouTube, it's so good to see his technique, also here's the slow movement played by him on YouTube as well, starting a little way in.

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