As far as Cello Concerto 'compilations' go, this is a real favourite of mine, three great Cello Concertos on one disc, and if you leave behind probably the greatest two Cello Concertos [Dvorak & Elgar], then these are the three main candidates in the Romantic era, and what a great instrument the cello is, it's a shame Composers like Beethoven / Vaughan Williams / Sibelius etc didn't write Cello Concertos [i guess the same applies to Guitar Concertos], with Lynn Harrell in great form, and a superb booklet picture, this is a disc to play again and again, and a disc to treasure, starting to develop a regularity in my Blog, appearing twice before [21st November 2011 & 6th July 2010].
Lynn Harrell is American, he is now 68, he recorded this Concerto in 1981, and like i've said before, the Decca Eclipse issue is one hell of a stunning picture, i'm sure there's a warm filter to enhance those field of poppies, over half of the picture is of the field, and a small part of the picture is of the farmhouse, but it all works perfectly, one of the most stunning disc booklet pictures, and enhances the music no end.
Out of these three Concertos on this disc, it was the Schumann which got me the most excited, it's not as good as his Piano Concerto, but i believe it's very underrated, the beautiful slow movement is gorgeous, a lovely meditation, on this recording the whole Concerto is given one track on the disc, roughly the first movement is the first half of the work, and the movements are roughly split up as 12 / 4 / 8, and it's this short four, maybe five minutes that is a treasure, it starts at [11:12], the cello singing a melancholy low tune, while the strings are a slow pizzicato [11:12-12:06], i love the way the cello plays so entrancingly, bowing more than one string at once [13:02-13:54], the opening slow movement theme comes back, and then with slightly faster and louder music, it creates a bridge which leads into the third movement [15:51+], a lovely short central section of this very inventive Concerto.
Here's Mischa Maisky playing the slow movement on YouTube, Leonard Bernstein conducting.
Here's Mischa Maisky playing the slow movement on YouTube, Leonard Bernstein conducting.
