Haydn & Bach: Cello Concertos
Steven Isserlis (b.1958) cello 史蒂芬·依瑟利斯 / 伊瑟利斯 (http://stevenisserlis.com/)
The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen
Label: Hyperion
CDA68162 (https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA68162)
Digital booklet (PDF)
Recording details: September 2016
Die Kammer-Philharmonie, Bremen, Germany
Produced by Jens Braun
Engineered by Fabian Frank
Release date: September 2017
Total duration: 77 minutes 41 seconds
Cover artwork: Detail from an anonymous portrait of Prince Nikolaus Esterházy ‘the Magnificent’ (1714-1790).
De Agostini Picture Library / A Dagli Orti / Bridgeman Art Library, London
If the two Haydn concertos are the most accomplished contributions to the cello’s burgeoning repertoire written in the eighteenth century, the CPE Bach coupling is scarcely less fine. Two charmingly rococo encores complete this latest essential release from Steven Isserlis.
Over the course of his career, Steven Isserlis has performed the two cello concertos of Franz Joseph Haydn with several orchestras, and recorded them previously with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe on RCA. This 2017 Hyperion release features Isserlis performing Haydn's Cello Concerto No. 1 in C major, H. 7b:1 and the Cello Concerto No. 2 in D major, H. 7b:2 with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen in a lively, all-Classical program that also includes Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's Cello Concerto No. 3 in A major, H439, and two short filler pieces, Isserlis' arrangement of Geme la tortorella from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's La finta giardiniera, and the Adagio from Luigi Boccherini's Cello Concerto in G major, G480.
By far the best-known works here are the Haydn concertos, though their popularity is a modern phenomenon and their attribution to Haydn only verified in the middle of the 20th century. Now they are firmly established in the cello's comparatively small repertoire of concertos, and Isserlis performs them with verve and elegance in authentic period style, while his engaging reading of CPE Bach's concerto suggests that it could one day be as favored as Haydn's. The performances of the Mozart and Boccherini pieces are more intimate, and Isserlis seems to have chosen them for the contrast their flowing lines and reflective moods bring to the album. Hyperion's recording offers crisp details and forward placement of the cello, giving Isserlis great presence and clarity.
Reviews:
'The main selling point is the two Haydn concertos, and this album is worth acquiring whether you’re yet to own a recording of these masterpieces or your collection is already bulging with them. Isserlis’s 1998 recording remains classy stuff, but this has superbly trumped it' (Gramophone)
'This new set has the advantages of CPE Bach’s striking A major Concerto, Bremen’s excellent Kammerphilharmonie and superb recorded sound, darker in colour than the bright-ringing 1998 version. His interpretations, graceful and finely-etched before, now have a more rugged depth … passagework is wonderfully supple, always shaped by his inimitable expressive urgency' (BBC Music Magazine)» More
5 Star PERFORMANCE
5 Star RECORDING
'Delicious' (The Strad)» More
'The very first notes of the 1st Concerto have a terrific energy, as does the virtuoso passage-work that follows, but Isserlis is too much of a romantic to focus exclusively on the sunny side of the music. He limns the graceful melody of the slow movement with a hint of pathos, and gives the operatic flourishes of the 2nd Concerto a real vocal expressivity' (The Telegraph)» More
5 Star
Tracklist:
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Cello Concerto In C Major - Hob VII:1 (?1761-5) (25:22)
01. Moderato (10:29)
02. Adagio (7:36)
03. Allegro Molto (7:16)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), arr. Steven Isserlis (b1959)
Cavatina From La Finta Giardiniera, K196 (1775)
04. Geme La Tortorella (3:33)
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788)
Cello Concerto In A Major - H439 Wq172 (1753) (20:05)
05. Allegro (6:45)
06. Largo Con Sordini, Mesto (7:35)
07. Allegro Assai (5:43)
Franz Joseph Haydn
Cello Concerto In D Major - Hob VIIb:2 (Op 101, 1783) (24:27)
08. Allegro Moderato (14:32)
09. Adagio (5:02)
10. Rondo: Allegro (4:52)
Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805)
Slow Movement From Cello Concerto In G Major, G480 (1770)
11. Adagio (4:18)