Elgar & Tchaikovsky: Cello Works

Moser is an unfailingly elegant soloist…the Tchaikovsky Variations have a suitably Rococo grace and spirit — BBC Music Magazine, May 2017, 3 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 24th Mar 2017
Catalogue No: PTC5186570
Label: Pentatone
Length: 64 minutes

Gramophone Magazine

May 2017

Editor's Choice

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This release includes a digital booklet

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Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85

Work length28:09

$7.00

$8.40

$12.25

Johannes Moser (cello)
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Andrew Manze
Recorded: July 2016
Recording Venue: Victoria Hall, Geneva, Switzerland

I. Adagio - Moderato

Track length7:51

$2.00

$2.40

$3.50

II. Lento - Allegro molto

Track length4:21

$1.00

$1.20

$1.75

III. Adagio

Track length4:57

$1.00

$1.20

$1.75

IV. Allegro - Moderato - Allegro ma non troppo

Track length11:00

$3.00

$3.60

$5.25

Tchaikovsky: Variations on a Rococo Theme, Op. 33

Work length18:50

$10.00

$12.00

$17.50

Johannes Moser (cello)
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Andrew Manze
Recorded: July 2016
Recording Venue: Victoria Hall, Geneva, Switzerland

Thema. Moderato assai quasi andante

Track length0:53

$1.00

$1.20

$1.75

Theme. Moderato simplice

Track length0:56

$1.00

$1.20

$1.75

Var. 1, Tempo della thema

Track length0:51

$1.00

$1.20

$1.75

Var. 2, Tempo della thema

Track length2:55

$1.00

$1.20

$1.75

Var. 3, Andante

Track length2:23

$1.00

$1.20

$1.75

Var. 4, Allegro vivo

Track length1:13

$1.00

$1.20

$1.75

Var. 5, Andante grazioso

Track length1:50

$1.00

$1.20

$1.75

Var. 6, Allegro moderato

Track length2:01

$1.00

$1.20

$1.75

Var. 7, Andante sostenuto

Track length3:46

$1.00

$1.20

$1.75

Var. 8 & Coda. Allegro moderato con anima

Track length2:02

$1.00

$1.20

$1.75

Excerpt, Tchaikovsky: Morceaux (6), Op. 19

Work length4:22

$1.00

$1.20

$1.75

Johannes Moser (cello)
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Andrew Manze

No. 4, Nocturne (Version for Cello & Orchestra)

Track length4:22

$1.00

$1.20

$1.75

Excerpt, Tchaikovsky: String Quartet No. 1 in D major, Op. 11

Work length6:54

$1.00

$1.20

$1.75

Johannes Moser (cello)
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Andrew Manze

II. Andante cantabile (Version for Cello & String Orchestra)

Track length6:54

$1.00

$1.20

$1.75

Tchaikovsky: Pezzo capriccioso, Op. 62

Work length6:22

$1.00

$1.20

$1.75

Johannes Moser (cello)
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Andrew Manze

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The profoundly moving, elegiac lyricism of Elgar and the wistful charm and brilliance of Tchaikovsky are on full display in this irresistible new release from PENTATONE played with consummate virtuosity by the German-Canadian cellist Johannes Moser with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande under Andrew Manze.

Composed at the end of the First World War, Elgar’s powerful Cello Concerto in E minor is one of his best-loved and most deeply-felt works. The soloist’s wrenching chords which open the work announce a mood of profound resignation and loss; gone is the youthful swagger of his earlier works, replaced instead with lonely introspection and longing, especially in the sublimely beautiful Adagio. The cello is given free rein in the vigorous final movement but the opening mood prevails as an anguished outburst from the cello brings the work to a close.

No such dejection hangs over Tchaikovsky’s delightful Variations on a Rococo Theme which ooze elegance, ineffable charm and daring displays of technical brilliance. While the Pezzo capriccioso finds Tchaikovsky in a more restrained mood, with the Nocturne and Andante Cantabile he wears his romantic heart full on his sleeve.

The cellist Johannes Moser is no stranger to these works. Winner of the top prize at the 2002 Tchaikovsky Competition, he was also awarded the Special Prize for his interpretation of the Variations on a Rococo Theme.

Described by Gramophone as “one of the finest among the astonishing gallery of young virtuoso cellists” and by the LA Times as a musician who “…connects with the audience in a way that only great artists do”, this is Moser’s third outing for PENTATONE.

His first album of concertos by Dvořák and Lalo was widely praised for his “performance of enormous flair and effervescence” (BBC Music Magazine) and “his dazzling virtuosity, free, passionate phrasing and immense energy … that recalls Pablo Casals’ iconic 1937 recording” (Strings)

Reviews

May 2017

Moser is an unfailingly elegant soloist…the Tchaikovsky Variations have a suitably Rococo grace and spirit

Diapason April 2017

Moser offers an interpretation of the splendid Elgar Cello Concerto that is dense and very personal, almost severe. His playing is more eloquent than elegiac, with a warm sonority. Above all, his mastery of articulation and of nuances has the ability to capture the attention of the most distracted of listeners.

May 2017

The first minutes command immediate attention, Johannes Moser's handling of the opening chords confident and tonally full-bodied, the ascending solo scales that lead to the principal melody haltingly tiered, the melody itself tenderness personified, slowing subtly before the strings take the lead and Moser rises boldly to the crest of the phrase. The full orchestra's response is both heroic and uplifting. [Rococo Variations] Again Moser offers a performance that conbines sensitivity, agility and brilliance, while Manze and the Suisse Romande Orchestra are consistently on the ball.

16th July 2017

He takes an emotional, nostalgic view of the Elgar — broadly phrased, with light relief in his scurrying account of the “scherzo”. The Tchaikovsky Variations are elegant Mozart pastiche, dashed off with scintillating virtuosity. Manze elicits superb playing from Geneva’s orchestra.

23rd March 2017

Moser plays the composer’s original version [of the Variations], and sets off at a brisk trot – rococo is not going to be a byword for prissy. But the lightness is balanced by a gently yearning lyricism, and he shapes the minor-key variation into one long, seamless line...throughout, Andrew Manze and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande are supportive at every turn.

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Elgar & Tchaikovsky: Cello Works

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