Virtuoso Cello Showpieces
Published:
COMPOSERS: Cassadó,Castelnuovo-Tedesco,Danzi,Dvorak,Orr
LABELS: Naxos
WORKS: Works by Orr, Danzi, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Cassadó & Dvorák
PERFORMER: Maria Kliegel (cello), Nina Tichman (piano)
CATALOGUE NO: 8.557613
It may be sheer pedantry on my part to question the inclusion of a transcription of Dvorák’s charming and technically undemanding Sonatina (originally for Violin and Piano) in a disc devoted to virtuoso cello showpieces.
Nonetheless Maria Kliegel and Nina Tichman certainly deliver an affectionate performance of the work, and the rest of this warmly recorded programme offers many opportunities for both artists to be put through their paces.
Undoubtedly the most extrovert item is Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Figaro Variations which are brilliantly dispatched here. Of the other works with an operatic provenance, neither Franz Danzi’s Don Giovanni Variations nor Buxton Orr’s A Carmen Fantasy seem as musically inventive.
Far more rewarding are Cassadó’s haunting Lamento de Boabdil and Dvorák’s nostalgic Silent Woods in which Kliegel draws a beautifully poetic melodic line. Erik Levi
Authors
Erik Levi is a journalist and critic for BBC Music Magazine and a visiting professor in music at Royal Holloway, University of London. He is a leading authority on the music of the 20th century, and has written books on the topic of music in the Nazi era, including 'Music in the Third Reich' (1994) and 'Music and the Nazis' (2010). He is also a regular broadcaster for BBC Radio 3 and is on the reviewing roster for International Piano Magazine.