Dvorak's Cello Concerto

Started by rubio, March 12, 2008, 01:07:34 PM

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ragman1970

Several good recordings are listed here.
I like to underline that the recording with Miklos Perenyi is one  of the most ompressive ones.

BorisG

Quote from: ragman1970 on March 15, 2008, 10:01:57 AM
Several good recordings are listed here.
I like to underline that the recording with Miklos Perenyi is one  of the most ompressive ones.

Good, but the Hindemith is even better.


O Delvig

I too love the Du Pre/Barenboim recording, though I suffer from first recording bias on this one. It was one of my first classical cds, and it's probably responsible for a lot of my interest in orchestral music. I think the way she really digs in adds some roughness to Dvorak's music that is very appealing.

samuel

surprised no one mentioned casals/szell, thats gotta be my favorite recording along with fournier/szell.

dirkronk

Five versions of the Dvorak cello concerto remain in my LP collection, after many years and many culls: Casals/Szell, Starker/Dorati, Fournier/Szell, Rostropovich/Talich and Gendron/Haitink. I probably listen most to Starker and Fournier.

My CD list tells me that I have quite a number of others on that format, but I have never done a spin-off: Cassado w/ Perlea, Cassado w/ Schmidt-Isserstedt (1935), Du Pre/Celibidache, Gutman/Sawallisch, Ma/Maazel, Piatigorsky/Ormandy, Rostropovich/Giulini, Shafran/Jarvi. One of these days, I should really do some comparing, I suppose...

;D

Dirk, listening to the stirring last movement of the Fournier/Szell version as I type this.

Brian

Quote from: dirkronk on March 24, 2008, 01:05:32 PM
Five versions of the Dvorak cello concerto remain in my LP collection, after many years and many culls: Casals/Szell, Starker/Dorati, Fournier/Szell, Rostropovich/Talich and Gendron/Haitink. I probably listen most to Starker and Fournier.

My CD list tells me that I have quite a number of others on that format, but I have never done a spin-off: Cassado w/ Perlea, Cassado w/ Schmidt-Isserstedt (1935), Du Pre/Celibidache, Gutman/Sawallisch, Ma/Maazel, Piatigorsky/Ormandy, Rostropovich/Giulini, Shafran/Jarvi. One of these days, I should really do some comparing, I suppose...

;D

Dirk, listening to the stirring last movement of the Fournier/Szell version as I type this.
Incidentally my list would be something like this (in order of acquisition)...
Ma/Maazel
Fournier/Szell
Rostropovich/Szell
Kliegel/Halasz
Bruns/Helmrath
Tortelier/forgot who
I've also listened to Du Pre, Rudin and Wispelwey. I'd like to hear Queyras and Sadlo.

Would love to hear your thoughts when you get around to comparing all those, Dirk! My favorite is Fournier by far, but I also listen to the Bruns a great deal.

ragman1970


dave b

Anyone have recommendations re the "best" recording? I would imagine there are lots of recordings of it, but is there any consensus as to which are the best ones? Thanks in advance.

Brian

#28
I have quite a few recordings of the Dvorak Cello Concerto. It's one of my very favorite pieces! Here's a rundown of all the ones I've heard, from best to least-best. I don't want to say "worst" because I actually really like almost all of them.

Pierre Fournier (DG) - perfection itself. Most people will point to this as "the best"; orchestra is the Berlin Philharmonic and conductor is George Szell. In a league of its own.
Jean-Guihen Queyras (harmonia mundi) - my second-favorite and my favorite recent recording. Queyras' playing is just so darn beautiful, and the last note of the second movement (played by the flute) gets me every time.
Peter Bruns (Hanssler) - excellent. Really wonderful playing, if not quite like the first two.
Yo-Yo Ma (CBS, Berlin Philharmonic) - pretty good. The first recording I heard. Apparently his remake on another label is even better.
Maria Kliegel (Naxos) - big cello sound, a little slow, but really good.
Jacqueline du Pre (EMI) - seriously impassioned, but also very idiosyncratic. Nobody else sounds like her, for better and for worse.
Janos Starker (Philips?) - he's got passion, but he also has intonation problems
Angelica May (Supraphon) - basically ditto. Her cello, too, makes a couple ugly sounds. Otherwise very nice, with the Czech Philharmonic
Gautier Capucon (Virgin) - tooooo sloooow.
Raphael Wallfisch (Chandos) - I like Wallfisch, but I don't like the boomy sonics.
Alexander Rudin (Amadis) - very, very fine cello playing, but the orchestra kind of stinks, and occasionally it just fades out randomly.
Mstislav Rostropovich - I have a bootleg live recording, not one of the commercial issues, so...

At $7, Fournier is a total no-brainer. Queyras is also fantastic. Those are my two top choices.

dave b

Thanks, Brian. I remember you helped me out before with things like this. Much appreciated......

Valentino

One more for Queyras. Simply ravishing.
We audiophiles don't really like music, but we sure love the sound it makes;
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val

Rostropovitch is extraordinary in his first version with Vaclav Talich. But the quality of the recording is not very good.
His remake with Karajan has not and by far the same passion and enthusiasm.

In a more classic approach I like Fournier with Szell and Tortelier with Sargent.

Lethevich

I second Queyras and Du Pré (both Barenboim and Celi). Queyras is a great example of how a modern recorded sound with everybody playing their hearts out can come to rival long-established favourites. Du Pré is something of a guilty pleasure, as both her recordings (Barenboim, Celibidache) I have a nagging feeling somewhat Hollywoodise the music (not a great thing in the deeply meaningful adagio), but it sounds utterly assured and superb. But then, my opinion is suspect, as I didn't enjoy most peoples favourite, Rostropovich/Karajan - I found it ever so slightly lacking in every respect - recorded sound, zest, spirit.

Of the other ones I've heard - Webber/Neumann (Philips) is surprisingly fine, but uncompetetive. The recent Supraphon 2CD of the CC (Bělohlávek, Jiří Barta) and PC wasn't exactly stunning. Has anybody heard the following CD? I've been meaning to listen to it for a while, but franky I'm burnt out on the piece.



Edit: hehe Val already mentioned it, nice.
Peanut butter, flour and sugar do not make cookies. They make FIRE.

Bogey

Staying away from my "historical" endeavors, either of these Rostropovich efforts would be wonderful to have:

 

I do not have a preference over either, Dave and would be "fall out of my chair shocked" if you did not enjoy these performances of one of my favorite pieces ever composed.

They are all out of either of these cd's at Weaver's Department store down the street and Ange has got the squad car today, but I have arranged for Gomer to give you a lift into Raleigh...they usually have a small stock.

  ;)

There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz

dave b

Thanks, Bogey, we should alert readers to the old thread that we started about Spanish guitar :) That had to be one of the best threads I have ever read.....

Drasko


some guy

Quote from: Brian on October 16, 2009, 04:38:12 PMPierre Fournier (DG) - perfection itself. Most people will point to this as "the best"; orchestra is the Berlin Philharmonic and conductor is George Szell. In a league of its own.

QFT!!

But I'm still interested, now, in the Queyras and in the Rostropovich with Talich. Talich has been a kind of hero of mine ever since I heard the Smetana Ma Vlast late one night on the radio when I was twelve or thirteen. I have avoided buying the recording, though, until just recently, fearing the reality would not measure up to my memory.

Silly billy!! The recording is superb!! Mono and all. So I'm inclined to give the Talich Dvorak a chance, too, now.

Guido

There are many many great versions of this great great work, but the one I return to most often is Leonard Rose's

http://www.amazon.com/Dvorak-Violin-Concerto-Cello/dp/B000026EN7/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1255823126&sr=8-1

This is my review:

QuoteAs a cellist, Dvorak's cello concerto is extremely well known to me and I probably have more recordings of it than any other cello work - I'm sure the same is true of many of the readers of this review. The score is just a marvel, undoubtedly one of the Great concertos of all time, and I think also Dvorak's most successful orchestral essay. This is still overall my favourite version of this work - Rose strikes a perfect balance between classical poise and an apollonian sense of control with a romantic, slavic intensity that makes this recording an absolute joy from start to finish. I also adore the Rostropovich/Karajan, Casals, and DuPre versions, as well as many others, but this is the one I return to most often and every time I fall in love again with the piece and Rose's burnished, golden sound.

The sound is astonishingly clear for the 1964 recording technology and must stand as one of the finest examples of the era.

The coupling of the Dvorak violin concerto played by Stern is apt and again the playing is top notch, even if the piece lacks the mastery which the later concerto exhibits.

At this price, this CD is an absolute friggin' steal and I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone with ears.

There are many extraordinarily fine live recordings by Rostropovich too - check them out (almost any) as a second choice.
Geologist.

The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away

jochanaan

If you don't mind "historical sound," there's also a very fine one by Gregor Piatigorsky, Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra.  That's the one I have, and I like it for its perfect pacing and rich phrasings.
Imagination + discipline = creativity

J

Can someone post the movement timings for the Fournier recording?