Walton - Cello Concerto - Onyx: ONYX4042 - CD or download

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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... — BBC Music Magazine, June 2009, 5 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 2nd Mar 2009
Catalogue No: ONYX4042
Label: Onyx
Length: 66 minutes

Gramophone Magazine

June 2009

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Walton: Cello Concerto

Work length31:35

Album only

Pieter Wispelwey, Sydney Symphony Orchestra
Jeffrey Tate

I. Moderato

Track length9:10

$1.50

$2.10

II. Allegro appassionato

Track length6:44

$1.00

$1.40

III. Tema ed improvvisazioni

Track length15:41

Album only

Bloch, E: Suite for solo cello No. 1

Work length12:11

$4.00

$5.60

Pieter Wispelwey

I. Prelude

Track length3:32

$1.00

$1.40

II. Allegro

Track length2:27

$1.00

$1.40

III. Canzona

Track length3:44

$1.00

$1.40

IV. Allegro

Track length2:28

$1.00

$1.40

Ligeti: Sonata for Cello solo

Work length8:25

$2.00

$2.80

Pieter Wispelwey

I. Dialogo. Adagio, rubato, cantabile

Track length4:31

$1.00

$1.40

II. Capriccio. Presto con slancio

Track length3:54

$1.00

$1.40

Walton: Passacaglia for solo cello

Work length7:05

$1.50

$2.10

Pieter Wispelwey

Britten: Cello Suite No. 2, Op. 80: Ciaconna

Work length7:03

$1.50

$2.10

Pieter Wispelwey

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We are delighted to announce the signing of one of the world’s greatest cellists, Pieter Wispelwey, who after many years on the Channel Classics label has decided to move to ONYX. In this outstanding recording of mid- 20th century cello music, Pieter makes his first recording of the great Walton Cello Concerto.

Pieter recorded the Walton in Australia in 2007 in several live concerts with the excellent Sydney Symphony Orchestra under the experienced baton of the British conductor Jeffrey Tate. This recording has been expertly edited from the live concerts (applause omitted). The rest of the recording was made in studio conditions in Holland.

The works for solo cello are cleverly interrelated and brings discoveries such as the Bloch Suite (written at exactly the same time as the Walton Concerto in 1957), the early Ligeti Sonata (1948-53) and two works written for Rostropovich: Britten’s Ciaconna from the 2nd suite and one of Walton’s own contributions to the ground bass form, the Passacaglia.

For the concerto Wispelwey plays his normal Guadagnini cello but for the solo cello works he was thrilled to be able to record on the great Magg Stradivarius from 1698.

Reviews

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.

June 2009

..his playing is flawless…

23rd March 2009

Walton's Cello Concerto is alive with magical brilliance.

14th 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.

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