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Sol Gabetta, Berliner Philharmoniker - Live: Edward Elgar & Bohuslav Martinu: Cello Concertos (2016)

Posted By: Designol
Sol Gabetta, Berliner Philharmoniker - Live: Edward Elgar & Bohuslav Martinu: Cello Concertos (2016)

Sol Gabetta - Live: Edward Elgar & Bohuslav Martinů: Cello Concertos (2016)
with Berliner Philharmoniker, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle & Krzysztof Urbański

EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 242 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 134 Mb | Scans included
Genre: Classical | Label: Sony Classical | # 88985350792 | Time: 00:55:45

Sol Gabetta’s first recording of the Elgar Cello Concerto, with the Danish National Symphony, was much admired when it appeared six years ago. This one, taken from a concert in the Baden-Baden Festspielhaus in 2014, is a far glossier affair orchestrally. Simon Rattle’s tendency to overmould the phrasing is sometimes too obvious, but Gabetta’s playing is intense and searching, less introspective than some performances in the Adagio, perhaps, but epic in scale in the outer movements, and always keenly responsive. Those who possess her earlier disc might not think they need to invest in this one, but would then miss Gabetta’s vivid, pulsating account of the Martinů concerto, which went through a quarter of a century of revisions before the definitive 1955 version she plays here, with Krysztof Urbański conducting. She finds real depth and intensity in it, both in the slow movement and in the introspective episode that interrupts the finale’s headlong rush.

Review by Andrew Clements, The Guardian

It was only in 2013 that Sol Gabetta released an excellent recording of the Elgar Cello Concerto with Danish National Symphony Orchestra under Mario Venzago issued on RCA Red Seal (review). Now on Sony Classical titled “Sol Gabetta - Live” the Argentina born cellist has released a live recording of the Elgar masterwork from Baden-Baden Osterfestspiele 2014, this time with Berliner Philharmoniker under Sir Simon Rattle. Included on the album is Martinů’s First Cello Concerto, also with Berliner Philharmoniker, now conducted by Krzysztof Urbański, recorded the same year at Philharmonie, Berlin.

Universally admired Elgar’s 1919 Cello Concerto provides numerous technical and emotional challenges for the performer. One senses that this intensely moving score was penned by a man emotionally scarred by the horrors of the Great War. One reason for the escalation in popularity of Elgar’s Cello Concerto, which also provides the biggest challenge to other performers today, is the legacy of the magnificent recording by the late, great English soloist Jacqueline du Pré that has achieved an iconic status. Du Pré was just twenty when in 1965 she took her 1712 Davidov Stradivarius cello to the Kingsway Hall, London to make this now evergreen recording with the LSO under Sir John Barbirolli. Du Pré’s account has been reissued several times and my CD has been digitally remastered on EMI Classics (c/w Cockaigne, Sea Pictures).

Intrinsically there is little difference between Gabetta’s Baden-Baden performance and her earlier Copenhagen account. In the opening movement marked Adagio - Moderato I love the way the assured Gabetta finds an assured mix of nobility tinged with melancholy, with the glorious main theme delightfully formed. The characterisation of each section of the illusive second movement is powerful, contrasting vibrancy with a deep feeling of longing. Gabetta captures an even more passionate yearning in the famous Adagio. Here the high degree of anguish in the writing could easily represent the horrific loss of millions of lives in the Great War. Warmly eloquent playing by Gabetta and the orchestra in the Finale evokes, at times, a scene of monarchy and pageantry reminding me of a Pomp and Circumstance march. Gabetta and the Berlin players under Rattle provide a characteristic “Elgarian” feel to their interpretation.

Containing a strong sense of emotional engagement, Gabetta’s affecting and beautifully played live 2014 Baden-Baden recording of the Elgar Cello Concerto is one that I will certainly return to often. On RCA Red Seal, Gabetta’s earlier 2013 account with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra under Mario Venzago is also praiseworthy. As much as I admire and love to hear the famous account by Jacqueline du Pré / Sir John Barbirolli, my preferred recording is the intensely emotional live 2012 performance recorded by Alisa Weilerstein and the Staatskapelle Berlin under Daniel Barenboim from the Philharmonie, Berlin on Decca. With tremendous assurance Weilerstein conveys a depth of searching expression similar to du Pré’s, as if living the music rather than just playing it. Another perceptive account to admire is by soloist Pierre Fournier with Berliner Philharmoniker under Alfred Wallenstein, recorded back in 1966 at UFA Studios, Berlin.

Martinů can stand alongside Janáček as one of the most original and frequently enigmatic composers of twentieth-century Czech music. Although Martinů would often use contemporary methods in his writing, such as neo-classicism and jazz, he was substantially a composer grounded in tonality. He wrote the First Cello Concerto in 1930, both in his birthplace of Polička and in Paris. The original dedicatee Gaspar Cassadó introduced the Concerto scored for chamber orchestra the following year at Berlin. Dissatisfied with his orchestration, the composer subjected the score to two separate and substantial revisions. The new dedicatee, Pierre Fournier, was engaged to give the first performances of both the second version (which is lost) and third version, given in 1939 at Paris and in 1955 at Lausanne respectively. Here Gabetta plays the third version of 1955, scored for full orchestra, which is according to Jean-Pascal Vachon “nowadays, one of his most important works”. It is a work I rarely, if at all, come across on concert programmes. It is not even mentioned in the Martinů list of works in Mark Morris’s book A Guide to 20th Century Composers.

In the opening movement Allegro moderato at the beginning I just love the glowing trumpet part. Gabetta is unwavering, with the generally upbeat and squally character of the writing, contrasted with occasional passages of melancholy. It is hard not to admire Martinů’s quickly moving ideas and broad variety of texture. At times a feeling of rolling prairies is evoked, as popularised by Copland and Grofé, yet the music speaks out with individuality. Striking in the Andante moderato is the sound of the woodwind and lonely trumpet that reminded me of Copland’s Quiet City. Perceptively, Gabetta savours the intense searching and yearning quality that imbues the writing relieved by short and stormy passages of notable passion and power. Overall, the character of the movement and the excellence of the playing make this a genuine highlight. Compelling and intense, the Finale feels like a heated conversation between soloist and orchestra. With its quasi-martial overtones, the writing communicates an overriding sense of spirited exuberance. The well-prepared Berlin players under Krzysztof Urbański readily communicate atmosphere and tonal beauty.

Certainly in the Martinů Gabetta’s performance is more than a match for her strongest rival, the engaging 2015 Berlin account by Christian Poltéra and Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin under Thomas Dausgaard on BIS. Admirable too is the 1991 account by Raphael Wallfisch with Czech Philharmonic Orchestra under Jiří Belohlávek, recorded at Spanish Hall, Prague Castle. Another fine recording worthy of attention is bysoloist Johannes Moser with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern under Christoph Poppen on Hänssler Classics.

These live Sony recordings from the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden (Elgar) and Philharmonie Berlin (Martinů) are both clear, with satisfying balance between soloist and orchestra. However, at the conclusion of each work I find the loud and boisterous yelling which precedes and accompanies the applause totally off-putting, clearly a racket which could have been removed or toned down. In the booklet, the two essays are interesting and instructive, and especially detailed in the Martinů score.

So, released on Sony we have two outstandingly performed twentieth-century cello concertos: an Elgar masterpiece and a Martinů work which deserves greater exposure.

Review by Michael Cookson, MusicWeb-International.com

Sol Gabetta, Berliner Philharmoniker - Live: Edward Elgar & Bohuslav Martinu: Cello Concertos (2016)



Sol Gabetta, cello
Berliner Philharmoniker
Sir Simon Rattle, conductor (1-4)
Krzysztof Urbański, conductor (5-7)

rec. live, 20 April 2014 Festspielhaus Baden-Baden (Elgar),
23 & 24 May 2014 Philharmonie, Berlin (Martinů)

Tracklist:

Sir Edward ELGAR (1857-1934)
Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85 (1919) [28:48]
01. I. Adagio - Moderato (8:20)
02. II. Lento - Allegro molto (4:35)
03. III. Adagio (4:54)
04. IV. Allegro - Moderato - Allegro ma non troppo (11:24)

Bohuslav MARTINŮ (1890-1959)
Cello Concerto No. 1, H. 196 (1930) [26:08]
05. I. Allegro moderato (8:24)
06. II. Andante moderato (10:37)
07. III. Allegro - Andantino - Tempo I (7:30)


Exact Audio Copy V1.3 from 2. September 2016

EAC extraction logfile from 8. August 2017, 21:29

Sol Gabetta, Berliner Philharmoniker, Simon Rattle, Krzysztof Urbanski / Elgar & Martinu - Cello Concertos

Used drive : PLDS DVD-RW DU8A6SH Adapter: 1 ID: 0

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000

Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 128 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files (x86)\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -V -8 -T "Date=%year%" -T "Genre=%genre%" %source%


TOC of the extracted CD

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2 | 8:20.34 | 4:35.05 | 37534 | 58163
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5 | 29:13.50 | 8:24.18 | 131525 | 169342
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7 | 48:14.73 | 7:29.74 | 217123 | 250871


Range status and errors

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Filename C:\temp\Elgar, Martinu - Cello Concertos - Sol Gabetta\Elgar & Martinu - Cello Concertos.wav

Peak level 88.7 %
Extraction speed 3.6 X
Range quality 100.0 %
Test CRC E13BD60D
Copy CRC E13BD60D
Copy OK

No errors occurred


AccurateRip summary

Track 1 accurately ripped (confidence 4) [DCFAE343] (AR v2)
Track 2 accurately ripped (confidence 5) [3A1BDBB7] (AR v2)
Track 3 accurately ripped (confidence 5) [FC5834BC] (AR v2)
Track 4 accurately ripped (confidence 5) [51D2E6B7] (AR v2)
Track 5 accurately ripped (confidence 5) [A44B7786] (AR v2)
Track 6 accurately ripped (confidence 5) [D6951D81] (AR v2)
Track 7 accurately ripped (confidence 4) [F7820599] (AR v2)

All tracks accurately ripped

End of status report

==== Log checksum 8E0A1F4722AB5124D0A60A2A4F238BE0AA1994B2AA93A6ADB77CF9D044131394 ====

foobar2000 1.2 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2018-04-28 22:51:01

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Sol Gabetta, Berliner Philharmoniker, Krzysztof Urbanski / Elgar & Martinu - Cello Concertos
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR15 -1.41 dB -22.36 dB 8:24 05-Martinu: Cello Concerto No.1, H.196 - I. Allegro moderato
DR16 -1.36 dB -24.03 dB 10:37 06-Martinu: Cello Concerto No.1, H.196 - II. Andante moderato
DR16 -1.23 dB -23.25 dB 7:30 07-Martinu: Cello Concerto No.1, H.196 - III. Allegro - Andantino - Tempo I
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Number of tracks: 3
Official DR value: DR16

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 591 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Sol Gabetta, Berliner Philharmoniker, Sir Simon Rattle / Elgar & Martinu - Cello Concertos
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR15 -1.14 dB -22.93 dB 8:20 01-Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op.85 - I. Adagio - Moderato
DR15 -2.25 dB -24.32 dB 4:35 02-Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op.85 - II. Lento - Allegro molto
DR14 -7.40 dB -27.67 dB 4:54 03-Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op.85 - III. Adagio
DR16 -1.03 dB -22.41 dB 11:24 04-Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op.85 - IV. Allegro - Moderato - Allegro ma non troppo
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Number of tracks: 4
Official DR value: DR15

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 591 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================

Sol Gabetta, Berliner Philharmoniker - Live: Edward Elgar & Bohuslav Martinu: Cello Concertos (2016)

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