Octo_Russ

Dvorak - Cello Concerto [Maisky/Mehta-Berliner Philharmoniker] 

At almost the same time last year, i listened to this work on this disc [7th May 2010], and it's come around again in rotation, i'm really starting to warm to this disc, and i love the autumn colours that this work brings.

Mischa Maisky is a Latvian Cellist [and i always thought he was Russian!], now 63 years old, he has been one of the major recording Artists for DG, and can count Martha Argerich as a chamber music partner, and Maisky has an individual dress sense [and hair style!], foregoing the usual bow tie and tails, this is a live recording made in 2002, the booklet front cover is excellent, Maisky and Mehta outside the Berlin Philharmonie i take it, nicely composed [photo by Susesch Bayat], the dark clothing becoming the background for the light lettering, very nicely laid out and well thought out, a great final product.

This disc is a live recording, it even has a track of 18 seconds of applause as track 1!, before the first movement comes in on track 2, i'm so glad i can program this out, how annoying is 18 seconds of applause every time you want to listen to the disc?, Maisky is also very individual, the first couple of minutes of his entry he slows things down somewhat, it's as if he's the star of the show, and he's going to do things his way, but he settles later as more of a team player, the recording is very warm, not clinical at all, having an audience in the recording makes this so.

I so much enjoyed the second movement of this work, the woodwinds open the piece, full of lovely nostalgia, and the cello continues in the same vein, it's these woodwinds that have such a heartbreaking sound and feel to them, especially after the cello has made its first appearance [0:55-1:21], where in a touching dialogue with the cello, these woodwinds really steal the lyrical limelight, a gorgeous passage, when the music gets more flowing and louder, the cello propels the tune, but it's the chattering strings in the background that are exciting [2:52-3:13], and there's a passage where the horns have a fairly major solo [5:37-6:31], and the solo cello repeats the horn tune in a cadenza, and towards the close it's those woodwinds that bring back the nostalgic autumnal feelings of this work [7:57-8:21], with the cello in tow with a beautiful gentle dialogue, and right at the end, it's another cello / woodwind dialogue that the whole thing rests on [9:17-9:45], just beautiful!.

Here's Rostropovich playing the second movement on YouTube, with Giulini conducting.