Search - Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky, Edward Elgar, Frederick Delius :: Romantic Cello

Nice collection of works for the cello

Chris Meyer | Holland, MI United States | 06/06/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Overall, this is a nice collection of previously recorded romantic cello works. While the album art leans heavily towards the "love" side of romance, the music does come from the Romantic period and early 20th century. To quote the liner notes: "This collection celebrates the emotional and technical range of the cello." While it does contain some very good recordings by excellent performers (Ma, Starker, Isserlis (one of my favorites), Piatigorsky, Harnoy), it does not contain complete recordings of the Elgar, Schumann, and Dvorak cello concertos. All are exceptional works for the cello (my favorite is Elgar, both to play and listen to), and it is a shame they are not included in their entirety. The addition of the Delius, Bruch and Bargiel pieces is nice. These are not too often heard, but are very nice works in their own right. As a cellist, I definitely recommend this album to anybody looking to learn more about the cello repertoire, and is nice background music if you appreciate the cello. If you're a cellist looking for recordings of some pieces on here, I only give this recording 3 stars, and recommend that you find the original album where these pieces were recorded, even if you have to spend a bit more money to get them all. That way, you have the complete pieces, in certain cases, plus the addition of other repertoire that might exist on the originals recordings."