Classic 'Cellists: BBC4 tonight at 8:00pm

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Apologies if this has been pointed out before (an "Advanced Search" suggested not) but following on from DON's Pianists and Nicola Benedetti's Violinists, tonight Julian Lloyd Webber presents a brand new programme on "Classic 'Cellists at the BBC":

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b084nscd

... with this presenter, I won't be holding my breath waiting for clips of Siegfried Palm, let alone Frances-Marie Uitti, Arne Deforce, or Severine Ballon ... but might pass the hour pleasantly enough, even so.

[Alison]

My brother is fuming this has taken the Good Old Days slot!

Good to see some classical back.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

My brother is fuming this has taken the Good Old Days slot!

[oddoneout]

Why does the blurb say 'an extraordinary musical journey' I wonder? What's extraordinary about a compilation of clips from the BBC archive - other than the inexcusable paucity of programmes making use of the treasures therein - and musical journey in this context surely just means that there is some sort of progression through time. So long as it isn't a 'personal journey'....

[EdgeleyRob]

I suspect it will be full of clips of Weinberg solo cello music,Alkan and Myaskovsky sonatas and the like

[Beef Oven!]

Quarter of an hour to go for a Arne Deforce v Pablo Casals face-off (it’s obvious where is programme is going).

[Beef Oven!]

Tortelier - amazing cinema-photography, esp. with the pianist in the background.

[Beef Oven!]

I really enjoyed that programme. MrMR is a total star!

Highpoint? The Sandman introducing Sol Gabetta's performance of Vask's 'Dolcissimo' as the extreme of cello playing possibilities.

Eat your heart out Arne Deforce and Richard Barrett

[Barbirollians]

A terrific programme though the shoehorning in of the talented Sheku Kanneh Mason into this extraordinarily high quality bunch rather exposed his immaturity .

Highlights - the 1968 Dvorak from du Pre so passionate yet so focused , the Navarra/Barbirolli Schumann and that awesome extract from Rostropovich and Charles Groves of the Shostakovich 1 .

[oddoneout]

I found the first few minutes a bit bumpy but after that a great deal to enjoy, not least seeing performers that I'd only heard previously.
Something that I'm puzzled by is why Yo Yo Ma lies down to play the cello? It made my neck feel sore just looking at him. What is the thinking behind such a posture?
As with the 2 previous programmes I wish this was a pilot for a series....

[EdgeleyRob]

Instead of all these snippets of wonderful films in the archive why not show some or all of the whole performances ?

[oddoneout]

Instead of all these snippets of wonderful films in the archive why not show some or all of the whole performances ?

That might upset all those who expect to see endless TOTP repeats and similar material on BBC4 and wouldn't take kindly to making way for some proper - oops sorry, different - music.

[Beef Oven!]

Something that I'm puzzled by is why Yo Yo Ma lies down to play the cello?

Yes, especially as he pulls his sex from behind face

[ardcarp]

Moving swiftly on....

I really enjoyed the programme too, and whatever one might think of JL-W, I thought he presented the programme well.

As for....

the shoehorning in of the talented Sheku Kanneh Mason into this extraordinarily high quality bunch rather exposed his immaturity

...I thought he played very beautifully, and though he isn't one of the 'greats' yet, I had no objection to his making a short contribution to the programme.

[Richard Tarleton]

I really enjoyed the programme too, and whatever one might think of JL-W, I thought he presented the programme well.

As for....SKM....
...I thought he played very beautifully, and though he isn't one of the 'greats' yet, I had no objection to his making a short contribution to the programme.

My thoughts also. I've seen SKM, but he was walking through the streets of Tenby with [?] his brother at the time, with his cello in its case on his back - sadly I didn't catch his performance.

Lots of fascinating snippets. Which of her cellos was J du P messing about with in the train? The Davidoff? The clip was 1967 or later as she was wearing a wedding ring. It spent a lot of its time being repaired, she never really got on with it and was very careless with it. It passed eventually to Yo-Yo Ma, although he only uses it for some things, not others. Didn't the very long spike business start with Tortelier? (I'm not a cellist, just fascinated by them and love the instrument) - he introduced the idea to Rostropovich. Piatigorsky looked like a dangerous 1920's Chicago gangster . Funny having him immediately after Sol Gabetta, I was just thinking how huge her cello looked compared to her, his looked tiny.