Alisa Weilerstein: Elgar/Carter cello concertos with Barenboim

[akiralx]

I can't really recommend this new CD, for the Elgar (and Bruch Kol Nidrei filler) - I can't comment about the Carter as I don't know the work well enough (I think I have Wispelwey on CD as well).

I bought it mainly to hear Barenboim revisiting Elgar, but the soloist's interpretations aren't too interesting, and her tone (as recorded anyway) is rather pinched and nasal. This may be the fault of the recording/acoustic which is fairly dry.

[Petrushka]

I was interested in this disc having caught Weillerstein's performance of the Elgar with Barenboim at the BPO Europa Concert (as seen on TV). A pity then that this looks like being a non-starter. Hope to have further reports before deciding whether or not to purchase.

[Barbirollians]

Did you compare the accompaniment to that he gave to his late wife on Sony and of course on film ?

[Bryn]

I can't really recommend this new CD, for the Elgar (and Bruch Kol Nidrei filler) - I can't comment about the Carter as I don't know the work well enough (I think I have Wispelwey on CD as well).

I bought it mainly to hear Barenboim revisiting Elgar, but the soloist's interpretations aren't too interesting, and her tone (as recorded anyway) is rather pinched and nasal. This may be the fault of the recording/acoustic which is fairly dry.

Interesting comments. I have not heard it, but on the basis of it being the current BBC Music Magazine's Disc of the Month, with Calum MacDonald awarding it five stars for both performance and recording, I was considering getting it. Hmm, think I will most probably still do so.

[akiralx]

Maybe sample before purchase. My tastes may be in the minority...

I haven't got Barenboim's previous recordings, only of the second symphony and the violin concerto with Perlman.

I'm not a fan of de Pre's recording with Barbirolli but never heard the Philadelphia one.

[Barbirollians]

If you don't like the Barbirolli( something I find about as comprehensible as not liking beautiful spring days or fine red wine ) I doubt you will appreciate the Philadelphia/Barenboim .

[ahinton]

Interesting comments. I have not heard it, but on the basis of it being the current BBC Music Magazine's Disc of the Month, with Calum MacDonald awarding it five stars for both performance and recording, I was considering getting it. Hmm, think I will most probably still do so.

Hot on the heels of that, here's at least as warm an endorsement from Mr Lebrecht:

http://sinfinimusic.com/uk/reviews/2013/01/norman-lebrecht-album-of-the-week-15-jan/

[hedgehog]

Sloppy though - he confuses Bruch with Bloch !!

[Bryn]

Sloppy though - he confuses Bruch with Bloch !!

And there was I thinking him a Bloch-head.

[akiralx]

If you don't like the Barbirolli( something I find about as comprehensible as not liking beautiful spring days or fine red wine ) I doubt you will appreciate the Philadelphia/Barenboim .

I like Barbirolli, just not du Pre... I prefer his recording with Navarra. But my favourite for the concerto (which I used to play, strictly as an amateur) is Wispelwey.

Spring days,yes, red wine, no: teetotal I'm afraid!

[Barbirollians]

I like Barbirolli, just not du Pre... I prefer his recording with Navarra. But my favourite for the concerto (which I used to play, strictly as an amateur) is Wispelwey.

Spring days,yes, red wine, no: teetotal I'm afraid!

Ah that explains everything - not a teetotal performance

Seriously, I have bought version after version of this concerto and to my ears nobody comes close to du Pre/Barbirolli . If you like your Elgar hairshirt so be it - but I don't .

My second favourite is Tortelier/Sargent at a respectful distance and I like Navarra, JLW and Menuhin and Isserlis/Hickox - but as I hear it in my head it is du pre playing it .

[ahinton]

And there was I thinking him a Bloch-head.

Ah, yes:
"The bookful blockhead ignorantly read,
With loads of learned lumber in his head".
Well, no - maybe not quite that in this instance; however "Ernest" the writer may have intended to appear, he is Mr Lebrecht, after all - and that often means, among other things, concentrating more on catch-phrases (or rather drop-phrases as far as I'm concerned) like "as if Jackie never lived" than ensuring factual accuracy at all times; is one really supposed to believe that he's never heard a cellist who played the Elgar concerto like that until now? What of all of those who had played it before Jackie? Yes, Jackie' performances of the work have indeed long represented a benchmark for many and with very good reason, but this is just another example of the kind of cheap journalese that we've come to expect from that quarter, I fear. Ah, well...

[Barbirollians]

Ah, yes:
"The bookful blockhead ignorantly read,
With loads of learned lumber in his head".
Well, no - maybe not quite that in this instance; however "Ernest" the writer may have intended to appear, he is Mr Lebrecht, after all - and that often means, among other things, concentrating more on catch-phrases (or rather drop-phrases as far as I'm concerned) like "as if Jackie never lived" than ensuring factual accuracy at all times; is one really supposed to believe that he's never heard a cellist who played the Elgar concerto like that until now? What of all of those who had played it before Jackie? Yes, Jackie' performances of the work have indeed long represented a benchmark for many and with very good reason, but this is just another example of the kind of cheap journalese that we've come to expect from that quarter, I fear. Ah, well...

I agree . I wonder whether he is trying to make the point that all recordings since hers have been influenced by it in some way either by becoming more romantic in approach or like Watkins/Davis and most of all Tortelier/Boult reacting against it and she does not sound as if either approach has affected her .

If he is , I think it is a bad point . There are a number of recordings that I think plough their own furrow very successfully not attempting to mimic her or go all hairshirt. Isserlis/Hickox, Clein /Handley and Schiiff/Elder all come to mind .

For a recording by two artists I revere the Tortelier/Boult is a lifeless, grey performance . Tortelier was miles better and more expressive with Sargent and Boult is far warmer and free with Casals .

[Mahler's3rd]

I Listened to the Naxos Disc the other day of Elgar conducting the piece himself with Beatrice Harrison on Cello

[Barbirollians]

Mr Lebrecht's review seems sillier than ever now I see that Alisa Weilerstein says she used to listen to the du pre virtually daily and had to force herself to put it aside . Her interpretation may well be very different but was forged by a love for the work from du Pre.