SOL GABETTA'S EXCELLENT, LYRICAL ELGAR CELLO CONCERTO, AND M
RBSProds | Deep in the heart of Texas | 06/22/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Five MARVELOUS Stars! Award-winning Argentinia-born cello star Sol Gabetta continues her rapid rise in the classical music world with her latest CD, displaying both phenomenal technique and a very beautiful cello tone from her 1759 Guadagnini cello as she covers a wide range of beautiful, formidable pieces. The "Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in E minor, Opus 85" is the musical expression of Sir Edward Elgar's somber, emotional view of World War I and it is a 'high benchmark' for all prominent cellists. The concerto was written as a "man's attitude to life" so it's curious that many of the best versions have come from female cellists, notably Jacqueline Du Pre' with Sir John Barbirolli and the London Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Gabetta gives a marvelous, lyrical, emotional performance using that beautiful "singing" cello tone which makes her work so distinctive. She receives outstanding support from maestro Mario Venzago and the Danish National Symphony as they brilliantly mine the sorrow and exultation of this concerto, especially the 2 prominent crescendos of the Adagio-Moderato movement as she wrings increasing angst from each ascending run. The remaining movements are equally superb with great interplay and timing between Gabetta"s rippling bow work and Venzago's orchestra.
There are also three lovely renditions of Elgar's shorter musical set pieces: "Sospiri", "La Capricieuse", and his first published work "Salut d'amour" which honors his wife. Then Gabetta and Venzago present lovely, nuanced versions of Antonin Dvorak's "Waldesruh'" (Silent Woods) and Rondo, and an equally exquisite version of Ottorino Respighi's "Adagio con variazioni". On disk 2 (also separately released as Peteris Vasks: Gramata Cellam), there is Peteris Vasks' beautiful, complex, moody, "Gramata Cellam" (The Book) for solo cello. She is dazzling with 'jazzy double bass-like' plucked passages, balanced with fiery bowed passages full of double and triple stops, crescendos, and diminuendos: in the end she uses her soprano voice to sing in unison with the final arco moments of the Dolcissimo movement. So much great music from one of today's finest cellists with a great orchestra. My Highest Recommendation. Five BRILLIANT Stars! (2 Audio CDs: disk 1, ten tracks: 65:56 total time; disk 2, two tracks:12:50 total time.)"
