Dvorak Cello Concerto -Isserlis

[Barbirollians]

Well having lived with this for a few days I am not quite sure what to make of it . Sometimes his attack seems unusually fierce for him and there is a reverb around his sound I find a little odd in the recording.

For some reason I was expecting a particularly intimate account and this is not that by any means . It is all big contrasts- very loud and dramatic one moment and then quiet the next and so far I feel it does not really hold together . It also seems like there are a lot of little tempo changes . In short , it seems very episodic .

Any other views ?

[Richard Tarleton]

Well his performance in Cardiff was certainly quite dramatic, including stamping his foot. So your comment does not surprise me. Did I understand correctly from the review I read that he plays an alternative ending (the one before he heard Josefina had died)? Does this mean he gives two endings?

Talking of cellists, where's cocolinmicaela got to?

[Barbirollians]

Well his performance in Cardiff was certainly quite dramatic, including stamping his foot. So your comment does not surprise me. Did I understand correctly from the review I read that he plays an alternative ending (the one before he heard Josefina had died)? Does this mean he gives two endings?

Talking of cellists, where's cocolinmicaela got to?

Yes the alternative ending is offered as a supplement. Second thoughts were definitely best !

[Barbirollians]

I have just played the Tortelier/Previn as a comparison . It is a much more nuanced and subtle account . So far I am disappointed by the Isserlis .

[pastoralguy]

I was really looking forward to this based on a performance by Isserlis on the Berlin Phil's Digital Concert Hall which has to be, for me, one of the finest performances I've ever heard. I find the recorded sound to be a little bit indifferent and I'm not impressed by the conductor either. (The climax of the first movt. Lacks drama and the trumpet solo is very hard to hear).

I REALLY want to like this but I'm struggling a bit.

[Barbirollians]

I was really looking forward to this based on a performance by Isserlis on the Berlin Phil's Digital Concert Hall which has to be, for me, one of the finest performances I've ever heard. I find the recorded sound to be a little bit indifferent and I'm not impressed by the conductor either. (The climax of the first movt. Lacks drama and the trumpet solo is very hard to hear).

I REALLY want to like this but I'm struggling a bit.

Yes that is how I feel

[Barbirollians]

I think I have worked out what I do not like about it . Firstly, it seems very unsubtle - lots of points seem to be underlined . His attack in places is very fierce and one might say the same about Harding's approach. When Isserlis allows the performance to relax - which is seldom - there is some very beautiful playing .Secondly, it is almost as if he is trying to be deliberately unsentimental at times and it becomes a bit cold though loud and finally I feel when i listen to it as if I am being hectored .

I have dug out by favourite performances and listened to them all over the last few days and none of them seems to suffer from these faults although they are enormously different . The Casals/Szell, Rostropovich/Boult, Tortelier/Previn,du Pre/Groves (live) and Fournier/Szell all seem to have a much more coherent narrative and to hold the piece together .

I have come out of the exercise reminded in particular just how good the Rostropovich/Boult is .

[Barbirollians]

I do wonder whether the recording is partly to blame . Listening to the first time tonight to Isserlis's recent BIS CD of Bloch Schelomo , Bridge's Oration and a piece by Hough his tone and playing is much more as I expected it to be. The Schelomo takes its place at the top with the Nelsova and Fournier recordings IMO and the Bridge Oration is quite magnificent- knocks my previous version recorded by JLW into a cocked hat

[mikealdren]

I have come out of the exercise reminded in particular just how good the Rostropovich/Boult is .

I agree completely, Rostropovich's later Karajan performance is nowhere near as good and yet it is always so admired by the critics.

Mike

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I agree completely, Rostropovich's later Karajan performance is nowhere near as good and yet it is always so admired by the critics.

I'm not a critic, but I "so admire" the Karajan version and much prefer it to the Boult - better performance, better playing, better recording, better overview of the work. Just a personal opinion, of course - prefer the Talich to the Boult, too.

(Incidentally, isn't the current critical consensus that the Karajan is inferior to the Boult?)

[Barbirollians]

I have always enjoyed the Rostro/Karajan but rather in the sense of enjoying a sticky toffee pudding from time to time.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I have always enjoyed the Rostro/Karajan but rather in the sense of enjoying a sticky toffee pudding from time to time.

- how very dare you!

... rather akin to this review of the Rhbi trh seafood restaurant in Prague?

These weren't like traditional Czech ovocné knedlíky, but more of an English sticky toffee pudding in miniature dumpling form, with a dash of fresh mint and dark chocolate crown. There was also a raspberry and blueberry or two lurking underneath the ice cream

[Barbirollians]

Caliban - here was our earlier discussion of this recording .

[Barbirollians]

I have played it again this evening after several months away from it and I find I admire it more and there are more cherishable sections than I thought before but some of the fiercer playing in the first movement still leaves me cold and the Josefina theme's return is rather overplayed to my ears in the finale . The accompaniment has some lovely solos too but the whole recording still does not hold together like many others .

Probably fairer to say a four star rather than three as I felt before.

[Nick Armstrong]

Interesting, thanks B. I shall try and make time to listen again v soon.