Composer: Gerald Finzi, Kenneth Leighton
Performer: Raphael Wallfisch
Orchestra: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Conductor: Vernon Handley, Bryden Thomson
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Chandos
Catalogue: CHAN9949
Release: 2001
Size: 287 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Finzi: Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. 40
01. I. Allegro moderato
02. II. Andante quieto
03. III. Rondo. Adagio – Allegro giocoso
Leighton: Cello Concerto, Op. 31
04. I. Allegro con moto – Meno mosso
05. II. Scherzo and Trio. Allegro molto e ritmico (il più presto possibile) – Moderato e dolce
06. III. Lentissimo: Molto sostenuto
The Cello Concerto is arguably Finzi’s finest work, written at the very end of his life under the stress of knowing he was terminally ill. At just under 40 minutes it’s planned on a massive scale. The first movement brings the darkest music, an extended tutti establishing a brooding tone of voice. The slow movement is in more haracteristically tender pastoral vein, with a poignant tinge of melancholy, music originally conceived many years before its actual completion in 1951. Leighton’s Cello Concerto is almost equally ambitious. Helped by full, warm Chandos sound, the Finzi receives a big, bold performance. With a good balance for the soloist, the panache of Wallfisch’s playing comes over more forcefully, and the tenderness of the slow movement is reinforced at a more spacious speed.