Search - Shostakovich, Bloch, Harrell :: Cello Concerto 1

Cello Masterpieces Made Under Great Stress

Erik North | San Gabriel, CA USA | 04/25/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A lot of great musical works were composed by their creators under times of great stresses (Beethoven composed many of his masterpieces with his hearing vanishing bit by bit; Richard Strauss' final orchestral masterpieces were manifestations of his feelings over what had happened to his beloved musical institutions after World War II). Such is the case here as well. Ernest Bloch's "Schelomo", the Hebraic Rhapsody for cello and orchestra, was composed in response to the agony he felt over the horror of World War I; while Shostakovich composed the first of his two cello concertos in 1959 while still under the watchful eye of the Politburo (only this time, it was Khruschev, not Stalin, who was the headmaster). Both works have attained significant popularity for all world-class cellists.



One of those world-class cellists is featured here on this recording: Lynn Harrell, who had first attained prominence in the cello section of the Cleveland Orchestra during George Szell's final years. Here, for two of the great 20th century works for cello and orchestra, he is joined by conductor Bernard Haitink and the world-renowned Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam. Harrell is superlative in his solo role, with Haitink and his Amsterdam forces providing equally fine accompaniment. The engineers at London/Decca are to be commended as well for the way they let the listener in on the great acoustics of the great hall of the Concertgebouw. Anyone with a taste for 20th century concertos should give this recording a lot of consideration."