Haydn Comparison: Rostropovich/EMI

These Jacqueline du Pré performances have been classics for decades and now sound better than ever in their latest remastering. Revered for her passion, technical dexterity, and architectural sweep, du Pré put forth her best effort for Haydn and Boccherini in these 1967 interpretations.

I should note that the Boccherini Cello Concerto in B flat that we listen to is not Boccherini’s original composition. In 1895, a German composer and cellist by the name of Friedrich Grützmacher did a major overhaul of the work, giving it a romantic quality Boccherini never would have known. Grützmacher made big adjustments to the outer movements and then removed the slow movement and replaced it with a more intense Adagio from a different Boccherini concerto. Regardless of its processing, Grützmacher’s arrangement made the B flat Concerto the best known of Boccherini’s orchestral works.

For those not familiar with these du Pré recordings, you can expect technical wizardry and great passion with a Romantic era orientation. EMI Classics has another set of legendary Haydn Cello Concertos courtesy of Mstislav Rostropovich. Both are full body performances that might make a dedicated HIP fan rather uncomfortable. However, Rostropovich and du Pré are not carbon copies. Rostropovich is not as romantically inclined as du Pré, delivering a more rugged interpretation of manly proportions. Although I prefer Rostropovich by a small margin, it’s best to simply note that these two recordings are the cream of the crop among modern instrument performances taking the traditional approach. Both conductors direct expertly, but I do find that Iona Brown places greater priority than Barenboim on moving the music forward.

The du Pré disc does have a couple of advantages over the Rostropovich. She doesn’t use the wayward cadenzas of Benjamin Britten, and the Rostropovich offers no music beyond the two Haydn Cello Concertos.

Haydn’s concertos, excepting perhaps for his Concerto for Trumpet, are not among his most popular compositions. However, I do feel that the Cello Concertos, particularly the C major, merit as much attention as the best works from his other categories. In this context, both the du Pre and Rostropovich EMI recordings are an essential component of a Haydn enthusiast’s music library. If you only want one of these two recordings, simply let the degree of your romantic urges guide you to the right disc for you.

Don Satz

 

Advertising Rates
Visitor stats
MusicWeb International
has over 23,000 Classical CD reviews on offer

Gerard Hoffnung Concerts &
The Bricklayer Story

New Releases

New Releases

MusicWeb Recommended Recordings

DISCS OF THE YEAR 2008

Google Ads
The DoubleClick DART cookie is used by Google in the ads served this site. When users view or click an ad, a cookie may be dropped on that end user's browser. The data gathered from these cookies will be used to help AdSense publishers serve and manage the ads on their site(s) and across the web more effectively.

Users may opt out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google ad and content network privacy policy.