BRITTEN: Cello Symphony; Cello Suite No. 1 – Pieter Wispelwey, cello – Flanders Symphony Orchestra/Seikyo Kim – Onyx 4058, 63:37 [Distr. by Harmonia mundi] ****:
One of the unique characteristics of the great British composer Benjamin Britten is that his inspiration for music came from personal convictions (pacifism), ideas (the corruption of innocence), or people he knew. The Cello Symphony resulted from a relationship with the great Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, who Britten met in 1960, when Shostakovich invited Britten to sit in his box at the London premiere of his First Cello Concerto performed by Rostropovich. Sparks flew when the composer met the ebullient cellist, and the result was Britten’s Cello Sonata. Their musical friendship blossomed and extended to recordings (Haydn, Schumann and Bridge), concerts at Britten’s Aldeburgh Festival, and Britten’s War Requiem (which Rostropovich’s wife, Galina Vishnevskaya, recorded with Britten in 1963). That led to the Cello Symphony.
In the Cello Symphony, instead of the common practice of the solo instrument and the orchestra competing with each other, Britten integrates the cello into the symphonic tapestry. He creates a partnership between equals so that the orchestra doesn’t overwhelm the cello by giving the middle ranges to the cello and the upper ranges (winds, brass, timpani) and lower ranges (drums, tuba, basses) to the orchestra. This superbly recorded performance demonstrates Britten’s wisdom: orchestral textures are clear as a bell. Although there is an emotionally dark tone to this work, there is a dramatic tension and melodic substance that makes an attractive challenge for cellists and compulsory listening for twentieth century orchestral lovers. Highlights include a brief but demonic presto where the orchestra and cello play hide and seek with each other, an achingly beautiful adagio that hesitatingly searches for meaning before transitioning into the melodically memorable Passacaglia. Cellist Peter Wispelwey and the Flanders Symphony Orchestra find the mystery, drama and internal spiritual substance of this great work.
Michael Steinberg, in his book, The Concerto, tells a delightful story of how Britten’s Cello Suites came to be written. Rostropovich had threatened to make a scandalous entrance (doing a pirouette) in front of Princess Mary, so Britten signed a contract for Rostropovich that said, “I, Benjamin Britten, promise to write six major works for cello in recompense for which Slava Rostropovich will agree not to perform his pirouette in front of Princess Mary.” He died before composing more than three Suites for Unaccompanied Cello. Suite No. 1 was written in 1964, after returning from a visit to Russia. Using Bach’s Cello Suites as a point of departure, in the nine sections of the First Suite, Britten uses the opening Canto as a unifying device by bringing it back three times as variations. Other sections include a sadly beautiful lamento, a pizzicato serenata and an unrelenting moto perpetuo that ends the work. Peter Wispelwey plays it with passion and an underlying sense of humanity that was so important to Britten. This disc is an excellent way to hear two masterpieces for cello in modern sound in superb performances.
— Robert Moon
