BaL 9.06.12 - Dvorak's Cello Concerto (merged threads)

[makropulos]

"the inexplicably regarded Daniel Harding."

What a delightful way of putting it

[johnb]

I wondered about purchasing that one, BB, but I have so many recordings already. I felt that Isserlis's recent disc on Hyperion was let down by poor conducting from the inexplicably regarded Daniel Harding.

I remember reading a review, some years ago, of a concert conducted by Harding which said that part way through one work the orchestra started looking to the first violin instead of Harding. The review was probably unfair but it certainly stuck in my mind.

[Barbirollians]

I wondered about purchasing that one, BB, but I have so many recordings already. I felt that Isserlis's recent disc on Hyperion was let down by poor conducting from the inexplicably regarded Daniel Harding.

I agree with you entirely about that. Isserlis should have asked Mackerras and Hyperion to record it ten years ago .

[Tony Halstead]

What a delightful way of putting it

Maybe the word 'highly' should be inserted between 'inexplicably' and 'regarded'...

[HighlandDougie]

I was going to say, "Oh, c'mon, he's not that bad", thinking of an LSO concert in the Barbican where I saw him but then, try as I might, I simply cannot recall what he conducted ...... But his recording of the Mahler/Cooke Symphony No 10 I absolutely love, although that may have something to do with the playing of the VPO.

Back on topic, the Daniel Müller-Schott version duly ordered.

[Barbirollians]

I am warming to the Daniel Muller Scott recording . The Sanderling is described as chamber music like accompaniment in the IRR and I think that is fair . It perhaps lacks the oomph of say Previn and the LSO with Tortelier or the glorious idiomatic support of LSO/Mackerras for Wallfisch but it is a lot better than the lumpen Harding account .

The fill ups are marvellous especially the Four Romantic Pieces .

[pastoralguy]

I am warming to the Daniel Muller Scott recording . The Sanderling is described as chamber music like accompaniment in the IRR and I think that is fair . It perhaps lacks the oomph of say Previn and the LSO with Tortelier or the glorious idiomatic support of LSO/Mackerras for Wallfisch but it is a lot better than the lumpen Harding account .

The fill ups are marvellous especially the Four Romantic Pieces .

Surprise, surprise, I bought it anyway!

[Barbirollians]

18 months on what did you think PG?

I have discovered the 1976 Sadlo/Neumann on Supraphon . Another stunner an accompaniment the very opposite of routine and Sadlo is endlessly interesting every bar holds your attention and although he was 64 there is no sense of strain . It is an account that makes you think is this how Dvorak expected it to be played- tremendously heartfelt and songful but never sentimental .

It will also give me a chance to give the A major Concerto another hearing.

[Barbirollians]

After being very much blown away by her playing with the Halle the other week I ordered her recording of the Dvorak Concerto with the Czech PO/Belohlavek.

Finally had a chance to listen to it this evening . It is an extraordinarily beautiful account especially in the quieter moments of the concerto and the accompaniment with outstanding woodwind playing is extremely sensitive .

The only thing that bothers me is whether it is a bit too measured for my taste - there is not too much of a true Allegro about the first movement to my ears . The finale is less moderato than the first movement .

Weilerstein's playing is not to be missed however and nor is that of the Czech PO . Some passages I have just never heard played more beautifully and there is much to take one's breath away .

PS I have just checked her timings against my rather long list of comparisons . In fact her timings are very mainstream - some are a little shorter some a little longer . Perhaps it just struck me that way as I have listened so much to the Anja Thauer recording in recent years which is the quickest account I own alongside the scintillating Casals/Szell.

[pastoralguy]

After being very much blown away by her playing with the Halle the other week I ordered her recording of the Dvorak Concerto with the Czech PO/Belohlavek.

Finally had a chance to listen to it this evening . It is an extraordinarily beautiful account especially in the quieter moments of the concerto and the accompaniment with outstanding woodwind playing is extremely sensitive .

The only thing that bothers me is whether it is a bit too measured for my taste - there is not too much of a true Allegro about the first movement to my ears . The finale is less moderato than the first movement .

Weilerstein's playing is not to be missed however and nor is that of the Czech PO . Some passages I have just never heard played more beautifully and there is much to take one's breath away .

[kea]

Maybe this is weird of me, but my benchmark for performances of this concerto is this one note:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nlp9pn2rayaaro9/03-05%20-%20Anton%C3%ADn%20Dvo%C5%99%C3%A1k%20-%20Cello%20Concerto%20in%20B%20minor%2C%20B.%20191%20%28Op.%20104%29-%203.%20Finale.%20Allegro%20moderato.mp3?raw=1

That particular note has to encapsulate at the same time the "unwillingness" of the cellist/composer to let the music die away, the nonetheless inevitable death, and the final apotheosis/ascension. And technically speaking it has to be played with a crescendo powerful enough that the culminating leap up to B4 seems more dramatic and "final" than the concluding orchestral ritornello.

I've found it a generally good litmus test and it led me to acquire two recordings I wouldn't have considered otherwise but now enjoy a good deal (namely Pablo Ferrández w the Stuttgart Philharmonic and Radoslaw Szulc, and Pierre Fournier w the RTSI Orchestra and Hermann Scherchen).

My overall favourites would be the abovementioned Fournier/Scherchen and Sádlo/Neumann.

[Richard Tarleton]

Maybe this is weird of me, but my benchmark for performances of this concerto is this one note:

Not a bit weird - at a live performance by Tortelier in the RFH in 1972 (Philharmonia, Horenstein), this moment made the hairs at the back of my neck stand on end, and a shiver run down my spine.

[Petrushka]

18 months on what did you think PG?

I have discovered the 1976 Sadlo/Neumann on Supraphon . Another stunner an accompaniment the very opposite of routine and Sadlo is endlessly interesting every bar holds your attention and although he was 64 there is no sense of strain . It is an account that makes you think is this how Dvorak expected it to be played- tremendously heartfelt and songful but never sentimental .

It will also give me a chance to give the A major Concerto another hearing.

Many thanks for flagging up the Sadlo/Czech PO/Neumann account. I purchased this on your recommendation and it arrived today whence it has just had it first outing. Fully endorse your enthusiastic comments. A lovely performance and recording.

[Barbirollians]

Many thanks for flagging up the Sadlo/Czech PO/Neumann account. I purchased this on your recommendation and it arrived today whence it has just had it first outing. Fully endorse your enthusiastic comments. A lovely performance and recording.

So glad to hear you like it . It has so much heart .

[Barbirollians]

Five years on - Tortelier/Previn played for the first time in ages . Still fabulous - another very imprinted recording !