WALTON: Cello Concerto; Passacaglia; BLOCH: Suite No. 1; LIGETI: Sonata; BRITTEN: Ciaccona from Cello Suite no. 2 – Pieter Wispelwey, cello – Onyx 4042, 66:22 ***1/2 [Distr. by Harmonia mundi]:
Artist-led label Onyx presents us with a recital by the formidable Pieter Wispelwey, who has now left Channel Classics. His recital of sonatas by Prokofiev, Shostakovich, and Britten is superb. This release is no less so musically—especially the passionate reading of the Walton concerto, considered the best of his three by the composer, but somehow proving resistant to immediate popular appeal—with the long-not-heard-from Jeffrey Tate conducting a rejuvenated Sydney Symphony. And the interpretations of the early Ligeti sonata and the first of Bloch’s three cello suites—more esoteric material strangely absent from the public eye—are given what must be called nearly matchless performances. The Walton Passacaglia, written at the request of Rostropovich but denied that it was intended for public performance, is a nice addition, though I do wish there was a way of squeezing more than the teasing Ciaccona from the Britten’s Cello Suite No. 2 on this disc.
But the sound is a little problematical. Having known other discs from this source I was a little surprised to find his tone sounding somewhat like burlap and the smell of a country farm. Neither is a displeasing odor in and of itself, but the strings of his instrument sound decidedly non-Wispelwey according to other recordings. The tone is rather close and buzzing in some instances, and I really think that the microphones captured too much treble, as it were. [His sonics were always topflight in his Channel Classics SACDs…Ed.]
Nonetheless this is still a recommendable album for those inclined to the program. Does it beat the Walton concerto with Piatigorsky on RCA Living Stereo? Not really, so if this is your only buying criteria you might hold onto your cash. But if you don’t have the Walton you should, and this is a fine reading by any yardstick.
— Steven Ritter
