Classical CDs: Shrouds, silhouettes and superstition

CLASSICAL CDS Cello concertos, choral collections & a stunning tribute to a contemporary giant

Cello concertos, choral collections and a stunning tribute to a contemporary giant

 

Kabalevsky celloKabalevsky: Cello Concerto No. 2, Schumann: Cello Concerto Theodor Lyngstad (cello), Copenhagen Phil/Eva Ollikainen (OUR Recordings)

Müller-Schott, RSNO, Søndergård, Usher Hall, Edinburgh - spectacular Shostakovich to end the season

★★★★ MULLER-SCHOTT, RSNO, SONDERGARD, USHER HALL, EDINBURGH Spectacular Shostakovich to end the season

Brilliant orchestral results, while the cellist walks a tightrope in the Second Cello Concerto

There was a neat conjunction of commemorations to this concert, the most obvious one being the fact that that 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Dmitri Shostakovich, so it’s completely appropriate the Royal Scottish National Orchestra chose to end its season with a concert of his music. More than that, however, the composer himself heard this very orchestra (then called the Scottish National Orchestra) play his Festive Overture in the Usher Hall in 1962, during one of Lord Harewood’s Edinburgh Festivals. 

First Person: young cellist Zlatomir Fung on operatic fantasies old and new

FIRST PERSON: ZLATOMIR FUNG on operatic fantasies for cello old and new

Fresh takes on Janáček's 'Jenůfa' and Bizet's 'Carmen' are on the menu

My new album, Fantasies, recorded with pianist Richard Fu, is the culmination of my years-long fascination with the wonderful genre of instrumental opera fantasies. I first fell in love with opera fantasies while attending summer music camps as a teenager. Franz Waxman and Pablo De Sarasate’s fantasies on Bizet’s Carmen were staples of the summer festival repertory of my violin-playing peers, and they were my first exposure to this sub-genre.

Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Isata Kanneh-Mason, Wigmore Hall review - family fun, fire and finesse

★★★★ SHEKU KANNEH-MASON, ISATA KANNEH-MASON, WIGMORE HALL Intimacy and empathy in a varied mixture from the star siblings

Intimacy and empathy in a varied mixture from the star siblings

I came to Isata and Sheku Kanneh-Mason’s Wigmore Hall recital on Saturday armed with a certain degree of scepticism. Not about the siblings’ stupendous talent and technique – their manifold achievements speak for themselves – but about the popular idea that family connections make for closer, more cohesive music-making. 

Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Czech Philharmonic, Bychkov, Barbican review - from Russia, with tough love

★★★★★ SHEKU KANNEH-MASON, CZECH PHILHARMONIC, BYCHKOV, BARBICAN Cellist, conductor and a great orchestra play Shostakovich for today

Cellist, conductor and a great orchestra play Shostakovich for today

Exactly half a century ago, Semyon Bychkov fled the USSR for the United States as he sought to swap tyranny for liberty. Last night, in a world that feels utterly different yet even more terrifying, the great conductor turned the stellar talents of his Czech Philharmonic Orchestra to the music of Dmitri Shostakovich: both a victim, and a troubled celebrant, of the searing Soviet history he endured. 

Gilliver, Liverman, Rangwanasha, LSO, Pappano, Barbican review - a rainbow of British music

★★★★ GILLIVER, LIVERMAN, RANGWANASHA, LSO, PAPPANO, BARBICAN Poetic Maconchy and Walton, surging Vaughan Williams bursting its confines

Poetic Maconchy and Walton, surging Vaughan Williams bursting its confines

For all its passing British sea shanties and folksongs, Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony does Walt Whitman’s determinedly global-oriented poetry full justice. That “pennant universal” was reflected in two superlative soloists from South Africa and the USA, our national treasure of an Anglo-Italian conductor, an Argentinian chorus director and a raft of international names in chorus and orchestra who just happen to be UK citizens.

Braimah Kanneh-Mason, Fernandes, Gent, 229 review - a beguiling trip around the world

★★★★ BRAIMAH KANNEH-MASON, FERNANDES, GENT, 229 A beguiling trip around the world

Engagingly humble and empathetic work from three talented musicians

It was the sonically adventurous, shiveringly atmospheric cello piece by Latvian composer Preteris Vasks that proved to be the first showstopper of this enjoyably esoteric evening. Dutch cellist Hadewych van Gent began the pianissimo movement of Vasks’ Gramata Cellam by creating a build-up of whistling harmonic effects on the A string, followed by a yearning feather-light improvisation in the cello’s upper registers that suddenly plunged vertiginously bass-wards.

Kanneh-Mason, Sinfonia of London, Wilson, Barbican review - taking the roof off the Barbican

★★★★ KANNEH-MASON, SINFONIA OF LONDON, WILSON, BARBICAN From musical also-rans to main event, culminating in a stunning Rachmaninov symphony

From musical also-rans to main event, culminating in a stunning Rachmaninov symphony

A programme of less-loved siblings – Shostakovich’s gnarly Second Cello Concerto and Rachmaninov’s “not-the-Second” Symphony No. 1 – gave John Wilson and his Sinfonia of London the chance to do what they do best: force an audience to take a second look.

Abel Selaocoe / Dermot Dunne & Martin Tourish, Dublin International Chamber Music Festival - genius transfigures genius

★★★★★ ABEL SELAOCOE / DERMOT DUNNE & MARTIN TOURISH, DUBLIN INTERNATIONAL CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL Cellist-plus spellbinds, while Bach's Goldberg Variations soar on two accordions

Cellist-plus spellbinds, while Bach's Goldberg Variations soar on two accordions

No-one in the musical world could possibly surpass the communicative skills of Abel Selaocoe – pushing the boundaries of cello and vocal technique in a myriad of voices, all cohering in works of staggering breadth, getting the audience to sing at the deepest of levels.