Walton: Cello Concerto

“his rich, malleable tone and mature sense of style [are] deployed with the discerning interpretative personality that places him in the front rank of today’s cellists...the Shostakovich that is lithe, pungent and, just as it should be, profoundly disquieting.” The Telegraph, 14th January 2011 *****

“Jamie Walton's warm and beautifully focused way with the work excels in its own right...The same unflashily vivid brilliance brings in a rich harvest in Shostakovich's First Concerto...his keening way with the slow movement's lyrical lament marks out a remarkable player. Alexander Briger and the Philharmonia supply superb accompaniments.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2011 ****

“The elegiac quality in [the Walton] very much suits Jamie Walton's style,with his sweet, smooth cello tone, but he is also capable of powerfully attacking the vigorous writing...[the Shostakovich] is a most compelling performance, very strong rhythmically, with the Philharmonia's first horn relishing what amounts to a concertante role...A most valuable and enjoyable disc” Gramophone Magazine, March 2011

“Walton's sound is superbly suited to [the Walton] - he has a singing, expressive upper register, as well as the agility to dive fearlessly into the more virtuoso passages; this is playing of tremednous authority and control...[In the Shostakovich] Walton and Briger generate impressive levels of rhythmic energy, and the playing has all the spiky allure one could wish for in this piece.” International Record Review, March 2011

“..his playing is flawless…” Gramophone Magazine, June 2009

“Walton's Cello Concerto is like a bottle of vintage wine from the composer's home on the Italian island of Ischia… its warmth, finesse and wry serenity are qualities that appeal all the more as time passes. Wispelway's cello playing, too, has a kind of seasoned timbre sound, at once mellow and concentrated, that suits the music to near-perfection. This concert performance... is alive at every point, and has an excellent orchestral contribution (the playing of the principal oboist is a lustrous phenomenon). Wispelway's selection of solo cello works on the rest of the CD, too, is so finely played that monotony is never risked for a moment.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2009 *****

“Walton's Cello Concerto is alive with magical brilliance.” The Telegraph, 23rd March 2009

“The ethereal orchestral opening gives way to a meandering cello line that takes time to find its direction. But Wispelwey's idiosyncratic virtuosity finds the convincing thread. The maudlin chords of the Bloch Suite for solo cello make a seamless follow-on, with Ligeti and Britten thoughtful 20th-century companions.” The Times, 14th March 2009 ****

“RCA's two-disc collection includes the premiere recording of the Cello Concerto with Piatigorsky – who commissioned the work – and the Boston Symphony under Charles Munch. Here is a highpowered reading, given an upfront recording, commendably full and open for 1959. Similarly Heifetz, who commissioned the Violin Concerto, remains supreme as an interpreter of that work, urgent beyond any rival as well as passionate.
Here he plays with the composer conducting the Philharmonia. The 1950 mono recording has been nicely opened up, putting more air around the sound, making the absence of stereo a minimal drawback. The other two concertante works come in digital versions: Kathryn Stott, originally for Conifer, adventurously going back to the original more elaborate version of the Sinfoniaconcertante, and Yuri Bashmet bringing his yearningly Slavonic temperament and masterly virtuosity to the Viola Concerto.
Bashmet's partners are the ideal combination of Previn and the LSO, and it's Previn's vintage version of the First Symphony with the LSO of an earlier generation that sets the seal on the whole package. Previn has never been matched, let alone surpassed. Also remarkable is the clarity, definition and sense of presence of the 1966 recording, with the stereo spectrum more sharply focused than in the digital recordings.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Chung's intense Violin Concerto and Neubauer's firm Viola Concerto and Lloyd Webber's oddly matter-of-fact Cello Concerto are coupled with Litton's sometimes too easy-going Symphonies.” BBC Music Magazine, May 2013 ****

"Müller-Schott's expressive legato movingly captures the sadness and resignation of [Elgar's] adagio, but he can dazzle, too, in the restless semiquavers of the allegro molto section of the scherzo-like second movement. This is a deeply felt, freshly conceived reading of a much-recorded piece. No less desirable is his account of the Walton" Sunday Times Classical CD of the Week 18th June 2006 The Strad Selection

“The Walton… is distinctive, not least because the Oslo Philharmonic under Previn is on cracking form. This subtly playful, sun-lit work is fiendishly difficult and requires just the sort of powerful virtuosity Müller-Schott displays.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2006 ****

“The Elgar and Walton cello concertos make a perfect coupling and this is the second time André Previn has conducted the pairing on disc.
The first, some 20 years ago, had Yo-Yo Ma, still near the beginning of his career, and the LSO.
Here he's with the young German cellist Daniel Müller-Schott and his own Oslo Philharmonic in an equally idiomatic reading.
Significantly, Müller-Schott writes his own booklet-notes, demonstrating his warm affection and understanding of both works. It is the passion of his playing that strikes home immediately – he uses a wider vibrato than Ma, and rather freer, less inhibited phrasing. That passion comes over not only in the slower music of the Elgar but also in the seemingly hesitating introduction to the second-movement Scherzo; and where Ma's reading of the slow movement is marked by refinement and nobility, Müller- Schott's is weightier. Similarly, in the central Scherzo of the Walton, where Ma is very fast and volatile, Müller-Schott is heavier-handed, though without losing the piece's sparkle.
The solo cello is balanced very far forward so that at the start of the Walton its sound obscures the subtle detail in the orchestration. That said, there is everything to enjoy in performances that are uninhibited, bringing out the warmth of both pieces. Many will forgive the odd balance when the performances are so convincing, even if Müller-Schott is not quite so imaginative or individual in his phrasing as Ma.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

Kyung Wha Chung’s now legendary recording of the Violin Concerto was made in 1972 in the presence of the composer and immediately drew the most enthusiastic reviews: “… she gets to the heart of this music, demonstrates its toughness as well as its soul-searching lyrical warmth … Chung’s incisiveness compasses the fearsome virtuoso writing of the Scherzo not just with assurance but with wit and obvious enjoyment in display ... here in sum is a great, deeply involving performance.” Gramophone May 1973