MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2023
Approaching 60,000 reviews
and more.. and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

alternatively
Crotchet

 

Richard STRAUSS (1864-1949)
Don Quixote Op.35 (1897) [42:31]
Josef HAYDN (1732-1809)
Cello Concerto No.2 in D major Hob.VIIb:2 (1782) [22:57]
Mstislav Rostropovich (cello)
Harry Danks (viola); Hugh Maguire (violin)
BBC Symphony Orchestra/Malcolm Sargent – Strauss
London Symphony Orchestra/Mstislav Rostropovich - Haydn
rec. Royal Albert Hall, 25 August 1964 (Strauss) and Royal Festival Hall, 1 July 1965 (Haydn)
BBC LEGENDS BBCL42402 [65:33]
Experience Classicsonline


We’ve already had a BBC broadcast of a Haydn concerto from Rostropovich – it was No.1 not the D major - in this ‘Legends’ series but not Don Quixote, a work he came to only in 1958 after a lifting of the anti ‘decadent’ strictures in place by the time of Stalin’s death. He recorded it with Boris Simsky (violin), L. Dvoskin (viola) and Kondrashin with the Moscow Philharmonic in 1964 [currently in a huge retrospective devoted to the cellist on EMI 17597] and also, famously, with Karajan in Berlin 1975, a recording that has seen wide currency in the reissue stakes. Their collaboration was notable for the aesthetic divergence between soloist and conductor, Karajan objecting to the roughened tone Rostropovich adopted. Where the cellist aimed at characterisation, Karajan aimed at ‘beauty.’ The cellist performed it with his colleague Rozhdestvensky a number of times, and, as here, with Malcolm Sargent. 

Sargent isn’t especially remembered for his Strauss but there’s no reason why he shouldn’t have taken to the music. He had earlier collaborated with the cellist in their famous traversal of the Miaskovsky concerto, also in the EMI box of course, as is the Saint-Saëns concerto they made at the same time and Prokofiev’s Sinfonia concertante. As for Don Quixote Sargent had first conducted it back in 1931 for Piatigorsky. 

In almost every passage except the finale Sargent is fleeter than Karajan. He ensures a relatively lean view, expanding only in that final scene. As ever he is a considerate and thoughtful accompanist, as he has to be here integrating the two section principals into the fabric of the work and ensuring balances are maintained. The two are the BBC’s leader Hugh Maguire and the characterful viola principal Harry Danks, a long-serving member of the orchestra. There’s some inevitable tape hiss though it doesn’t obtrude once one concentrates on the music making. As for that it’s a little up and down. The solo string playing is excellent. Rostropovich’s earthy, larger-than-life impersonation is characteristically voluble and expressive; Danks is good, Maguire has less to do. There are times when the results are dramatic – The Ride through the Air is just one example. But equally things are a little on the bluff side – The Battle with the Sheep for instance – and the BBC orchestra can be a bit blustery. 

He recorded both Haydn concertos in 1975, directing the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields. Here he does the same, only with a small contingent from the LSO. This is a genial performance, broadly beamed and strong on rich, rounded cantabile phrasing. The recording quality is a touch better as well. 

Obviously there is cachet for live broadcast material from the cellist, though in these cash strapped times these can only ever be ancillary purchases. 

Jonathan Woolf


 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.