New release of the Day - Dutilleux and Luto too...

[jayne lee wilson]

Lutoslawski Cello Concerto; Dutilleux Tout un Monde Lointain.
Johannes Moser/Berlin RSO/Sondergard. 24/96 Pentatone. Qobuz Studio Stream.

The cool classy transparency of this new recording of Lutosławski’s Cello Concerto may at first seem to present a slightly too laid back account. But you soon become absorbed by the freedom, fantasy and precision of Moser’s assumption, the reliably velvety beauty of the Berlin RSO, the impressively large-scale of the orchestral image.
The strings in the cantilena have never sounded more beautiful, those overlapping brass outbursts never more sharply detailed; but perhaps it lacks a little anger or fire? Too..luxurious?
One focusses again on those eerily twisting cello harmonics, the tiny threads and brushstrokes of percussion, fabulously deep in the acoustic; marvelling at the resolution of it all to the ear. But still neither shaken nor stirred…

Then we hit the finale and - well, look out! - the roof goes off… So that’s what Søndergard was saving it all up for…!
The orchestra attack their brief climactic passages with a staggering, frenzied impact, that huge final chord leaving you breathless in your chair, and the soloist singing his single high note, defiantly individual and alone….

As you might expect, the distant world of the Dutilleux finds all these performers in their element, comme il faut…. articulate, poetic, coolly glittering; like most of Dutilleux’ preciously curated capsule collection, it’s a work I’m very fond of, and this recording, whilst it retains a certain Apollonian distancing, joins the best of them on the very highest level for sound and sense.
I found the cello soloist slightly too close at first; as the effortlessly powerful orchestra weren’t very far behind, this wasn’t a great problem (and may be system dependent); but I simply switched DAC filters to achieve a more sympathetic space and distance…

If you still actually buy recordings…and have others of both these wonderful works you already love, is this an essential purchase? Perhaps not; but certainly a indulgently luxurious listen.…a fresh take.

(Johannes Moser’s own notes to the works are remarkably, keenly insightful; I’m happy to report more and more booklet notes presented this way recently… e.g.Jacobs on Schubert 1 & 6…)

[Serial_Apologist]

Interesting that they chose not to twin the Luto and the Dutilleux cello concertos though - perhaps deciding the original with Rostropovitch and the Orchestre de Paris to be too sacrosanct to bear repetition.

[Richard Barrett]

Interesting that they chose not to twin the Luto and the Dutilleux cello concertos though - perhaps deciding the original with Rostropovitch and the Orchestre de Paris to be too sacrosanct to bear repetition.

?

[Beef Oven!]

Interesting that they chose not to twin the Luto and the Dutilleux cello concertos though - perhaps deciding the original with Rostropovitch and the Orchestre de Paris to be too sacrosanct to bear repetition.

Tout un Monde Lointain is a bit like a cello concerto, though.

[Barbirollians]

So difficult to tell sometimes whether people are being ironic or snide . Dutilleux’s Cello Concerto is of course the same work.

[Serial_Apologist]

So difficult to tell sometimes whether people are being ironic or snide . Dutilleux’s Cello Concerto is of course the same work.

Apologies for my absurd mistake! I was thinking of another Dutilleux work, having forgotten this as being the subtitle! High time to apply for a head transplant!

[Barbirollians]

Apologies for my absurd mistake! I was thinking of another Dutilleux work, having forgotten this as being the subtitle! High time to apply for a head transplant!

Took me ages to be sure that his violin concerto was the same work as the subtitle given to that ! Much easier if people use both titles !

[Richard Barrett]

Took me ages to be sure that his violin concerto was the same work as the subtitle given to that ! Much easier if people use both titles !

- except that actually the score of Tout un monde lointain... doesn't contain the word "Concerto" anywhere, and that of L'Arbre des songes only has "Concerto pour violon et orchestre" on the inside (hence it's more a description than a subtitle).

[BBMmk2]

Thank as ever, JLW. Your posts are always quite persuasive!

[Barbirollians]

- except that actually the score of Tout un monde lointain... doesn't contain the word "Concerto" anywhere, and that of L'Arbre des songes only has "Concerto pour violon et orchestre" on the inside (hence it's more a description than a subtitle).

As Tout en monde lointain has become known as the Cello Concerto including in most cases where a recording is issued and is widely known by that name - the point holds that it is clearer if both titles are used.

[Richard Barrett]

As Tout en monde lointain has become known as the Cello Concerto including in most cases where a recording is issued and is widely known by that name - the point holds that it is clearer if both titles are used.

Become known by whom? The words "Cello Concerto" appear on the front cover of only one or two of the many available CDs - look for yourself! "Cello Concerto" may be a description but it would only be a title if the composer had called it that, which he didn't.

[Barbirollians]

Become known by whom? The words "Cello Concerto" appear on the front cover of only one or two of the many available CDs - look for yourself! "Cello Concerto" may be a description but it would only be a title if the composer had called it that, which he didn't.

It appears on the title of the one JLW is lauding for example . By all means stick to your purism - the mistake Serial Apologist makes is easy to do in those circumstances and not to be sneered at.

[Serial_Apologist]

It appears on the title of the one JLW is lauding for example . By all means stick to your purism - the mistake Serial Apologist makes is easy to do in those circumstances and not to be sneered at.

Well, thanks, but I have to admit to not having pre-checked that I was not thinking of the cello work in question; I apologise to all for causing such time-wasting confusion.

[Bryn]

O.k, so how about this afternoon's "UK premiere of Dobrinka Tabakova’s double piano concerto", as it is named on the short version of the schedule blurb, or "Together Remember to Dance" as it is titled in the main listing?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00013zw

[Beef Oven!]

Thank as ever, JLW. Your posts are always quite persuasive!

It was Jayne's enthusiasm for this set that influenced me to buy it in the first place.