Search - Britten, Pieter Wispelwey :: Britten: Cello Suites 1, 2 & 3

	Britten, Pieter Wispelwey Britten: Cello Suites 1, 2 & 3 Genre: Classical Britten's Cello Suites were written for Mstislav Rostropovich, whose Decca recordings of the first two are nonpareil. Recently, technically assured, interpretively divergent accounts by Truls Mørk (Virgin) and Rohan d... more » « less
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CD Details

All Artists: Britten, Pieter Wispelwey
Title: Britten: Cello Suites 1, 2 & 3
Members Wishing: 0
Total Copies: 0
Label: Channel Classics Nl
Original Release Date: 1/1/2002
Re-Release Date: 1/8/2002
Album Type: Import
Genre: Classical
Styles: Chamber Music, Historical Periods, Classical (c.1770-1830), Instruments, Strings
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 723385171980

Synopsis

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Britten's Cello Suites were written for Mstislav Rostropovich, whose Decca recordings of the first two are nonpareil. Recently, technically assured, interpretively divergent accounts by Truls Mørk (Virgin) and Rohan de Saram (Montaigne) have won praise, and now Dutch cellist Pieter Wispelwey, who's made many admirable discs for Channel Classics, joins their company. All of Wispelwey's recordings reveal a personal touch; none more so than these Britten Suites. He can go to extremes, as in the sluggish tempos and altered rhythms of some movements. Such wayward touches should not deter, for he plays throughout with gorgeous rounded tones and obvious identification with the music, as can be heard in the great Chaconne of Suite No. 2, and in the way the fugues are played with emotional power and technical aplomb. The engineering brings Wispelwey and his cello right into your listening room, too. These works have the depth to take multiple interpretive stances, so Britten fans and cello enthusiasts will want more than one, and Wispelwey offers a strong alternative view of these endlessly fascinating works. --Dan Davis

CD Reviews

Great technical brilliance used for the wrong purposes

MartinP | Nijmegen, The Netherlands | 02/12/2002

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Wispelwey's technical abilities are almost beyond belief. He tackles the numerous difficulties in these suites as if they are mere first grade exercises. But maybe this technical facility allows him just a bit too much time to fool around with the music itself. He takes it apart and reassembles it as something that at times hardly resembles Britten's notes at all. The results can be fascinating in themselves, but often they also sound mannered, self-conscious and far-fetched. The liberties taken with the first suite's Serenade, for instance, are such that the rhythmic structure simply falls apart. Almost every bar has another tempo, and Wispelwey simply doesn't allow himself to play even two arpeggio's the same way. The point of this charming movement, with the cello emulating a guitar, is totally lost. Also, I was surprised at the casual way the integration of the Canto theme in the final Moto perpetuo is underplayed. This lack of climactic resolve also mars the final movement of the Third Suite. Tempo's are often overly deliberate.
Don't get me wrong, there is a lot to enjoy here in the way of cello playing of the highest imaginable standard, on a very beautiful sounding instrument and very well recorded too. These assets might have yielded a recording of these works to surpass all others, those of Rostropovich included. But alas: as a realization of Britten's Suites they are off the mark, widely so at times. The second suite fares best, by the way. But still, a paraphrase of the wry remark originally addressed at Bernstein applies: `the composer was unable to realize Wispelwey's intentions'."