This release from renowned cellist Pieter Wispelwey
is a disc of two halves. The first half is Australian as Wispelwey
recorded Walton’s Cello Concerto in 2007 during live
concerts at the Sydney Opera House. The second half of the disc
is European with studio recordings of four works for solo cello
made in 2008 at Valthermond in Holland. For the Walton Wispelwey
plays his usual 1760 Giovanni Battista Guadagnini cello. The
solo cello works were recorded by Wispelwey on an 1698 ‘Magg’
Stradivarius.
Pieter Wispelwey has long been associated with
Channel Classics and this recording of cello music from the
middle of the 20th century is his first for Onyx. The feature
work is the William Walton Cello Concerto written in
1956 commissioned by and dedicated to Gregor Piatigorsky the
famous Russian soloist. It was Piatigorsky who premièred the
score in 1957 at Boston with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under
Charles Munch. Piatigorsky’s 1957 recording under Munch with
the same forces is an evergreen performance by which all other
versions are judged: RCA Living Stereo 09026-61498-2 and RCA
66375 SA (SACD) (c/w Dvořák Cello Concerto). This is Wispelwey’s
first recording of the score and it was made with the Sydney
Symphony Orchestra under Jeffrey Tate. The recording was made
with the applause omitted at live concerts for the Australian
Broadcasting Corporation in August 2007 at the Sydney Opera
House, Australia.
In the opening movement Moderato Wispelwey
captures the atmosphere of mystery and dark foreboding superbly.
I loved the meltingly beautiful closing section. The impressive
central movement is vigorous and headstrong. Here the only respite
is at 4:37-5:39 where Wispelwey develops the mood to one of
yeaning melancholy. The fifteen minute final movement is in
effect a slow movement and six improvisations. After the first
cadenza-like section for solo cello from 7:01 the short but
effective orchestral outburst comes as a welcome respite from
the tension and bleakness of the writing. A second section for
solo cello occupies a similar mood of apprehension and desolation
as before. From 10:45 the orchestra return followed by the glorious
cello writing of sun and warmth.
Ernest Bloch was born in Geneva, Switzerland
and became an American citizen in 1924. The Suite No. 1 is
the first of his three Suites for solo cello and was
written in 1956-57 for Zara Nelsova in the State of Oregon.
Wispelwey navigates his way through Bloch’s often dense and
austere sound-world in this four movement Suite. The Prelude
has a dark and sinister character followed by the first
Allegro of a quasi-devotional nature that contains the
most obvious quotation from the Prelude of Bach’s Cello
Suite No.1. Wispelwey conveys a sad and yearning quality
to the third movement Canzona and the final movement
Allegro is performed with vigour and determination.
György Ligeti’s Sonata for solo cello is
cast in two movements the first written in 1948 and the second
in 1953. Owing to its second movement, that had been described
as ‘formalist’, the Soviet-controlled régime in Hungary allowed
the Sonata to be broadcast on radio only once. The Hungarian
authorities would not allow the Sonata to be performed
in public.
The first movement is cool and meditative with
the exception at 2:29 where the mood alters to one of yearning
with strains of a folk-like melody. Virtuosic and dazzling flurries
of notes dominate the second movement with brief episodes of
relative respite. The Sonata concludes with a frenzied
display of virtuosity that the assured Wispelwey takes in his
stride.
I remain impressed with David Geringas’s 2002
Berlin performance of the Ligeti. It’s on Teldec Classics 8573-88262-2.
The second score by Walton is his Passacaglia
for solo cello. This was composed in 1979-80, a product
of his close friendship with Mstislav Rostropovich, the renowned
Russian cellist and conductor. Rostropovich premièred the score
at Walton’s 80th birthday celebrations in 1982 at London’s Festival
Hall.
The Passacaglia is essentially an eight
bar theme played Lento espressivo followed by ten variations.
Rich in introspection and mystery the score has a predominantly
dark coloration containing considerable emotional tension. At
5:44 Wispelwey conveys a mood of scurrying combined with a sense
of searching. An angry torrent of passion at 6:25 brings proceedings
to a close.
An even closer friendship with Rostropovich was
that forged by Benjamin Britten. Britten composed several works
for Rostropovich including the five movement Suite No. 2
for solo cello, Op. 80 from 1967. The cellist premièred
it at the 1968 Aldeburgh Festival at Snape Maltings. On this
release Pieter Wispelwey has chosen to perform the fifth movement
– the Ciaccona. In the opening section the music travels
forward with considerable determination. At 2:41-4:37 the mood
shifts to one that is emotionally cool and distant.
The sound on this Hyperion disc is to a high
standard. The live recording from the Sydney Opera House, with
applause omitted, is clear and well balanced. From the recording
studio at the Onder de Linden in Valthermond the solo cello
scores are closely caught and vividly clear. Pieter Wispelwey
is a consummate performer and this - his debut disc for Onyx
- would make a welcome addition to any collection of cello music.
Michael Cookson
Pieter Wispelwey
(cello) 
