Martinu & Shostakovich - Cello Concertos | BIS BIS2257

Martinu & Shostakovich - Cello Concertos

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Label: BIS

Cat No: BIS2257

Format: Hybrid SACD

Number of Discs: 1

Genre: Orchestral

Release Date: 30th June 2017

Contents

Artists

Christian Poltera (cello)
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin

Conductor

Gilbert Varga

Works

Martinu, Bohuslav

Cello Concerto no.2, H304

Shostakovich, Dmitri

Cello Concerto no.2 in G major, op.126

Artists

Christian Poltera (cello)
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin

Conductor

Gilbert Varga

About

The two cello concertos by Dmitri Shostakovich were both were written for his friend Mstislav Rostropovich but whereas the First is rhythmic and virtuosic, the Second is subdued and introverted. Composed in 1966, it is often regarded as a watershed work, heralding Shostakovich's final stylistic period marked by a certain sombreness and a trend towards more transparent scoring. The Op.126 concerto has become somewhat overshadowed by its older, more accessible sibling, something which also applies to the second work on this disc, for completely different reasons.

Having completed his Cello Concerto No.2 in 1945, Bohuslav Martinů was unsuccessful in his attempts to interest a leading cellist in promoting it. When the composer furthermore reworked his first cello concerto in 1955, the new version effectively obliterated all traces of the 1945 concerto, which didn't receive its first performance until 1965, six years after Martinů’s death. The work is melodious with lyrical qualities, and many have interpreted it as an expression of the nostalgia the composer experienced as an exile in the U.S.A. during the last winter of World War II.

The present disc is a follow-up to Christian Poltéra's critically acclaimed 2016 release, with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, of Martinů's Cello Concerto No.1, coupled with Dvořák's Cello Concerto.

“Cellist Christian Poltéra and conductor Thomas Dausgaard give Dvorak’s Cello Concerto a lusty warmth and spontaneity…but what sets this recording apart is this reading of Martinu’s Cello Concerto No. 1, a hugely appealing work far too rarely performed…Poltéra sustains its cantilenas with a glowing intensity that builds towards a monumental and profound cadenza…this reading stands beside the best” - **** BBC Music Magazine, June 2016

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