This
classic coupling has for decades withstood the scrutiny of history.
Piatigorsky had long been associated with the Dvořák and
was of course the dedicatee of the Walton, of which work he
gave the premiere shortly before making this recording. The
release is part of the RCA Red Seal Living Stereo series in
SACD, attractive of livery and classic of design. There’s a
certain amount of high level residual tape hiss but one’s ear
barely notices once the music is underway.
His
Dvořák is full of very personal, essentially melancholic
details. The opening cello statement is rather withdrawn, almost
weary, an impression not aided by the titanically over-recorded
winds, whose counter-themes aspire to statements in their own
right, and which draw attention away from the soloist’s intensity
and purpose. Throughout the opening movement there is a distinctly
Russian feel; not a Shafran neurosis or a Rostropovich nobility
but a more Chekhovian feeling. Munch meanwhile does much to
elucidate and bring out harmonies and cadential points and his
contribution is generally very fine. Piatigorsky has some intonational
problems in the more treacherous moments of passagework. Gendron
is one of the very few cellists on disc who can surmount these
dangers. The slow movement is emotive if quiescent with some
little cellistic lurches along the way though, less attractively,
a sabotagingly huge flute solo. This is a feature of the recording;
a submerged cello line where one would expect it to stand out
(in the finale) and odd perspectives generally. It’s in fact
one of the oddest balanced recordings I’ve heard in quite a
while and in that respect not much of an improvement over previous
issues, albeit a necessary purchase for admirers of the great
cellist. As a performance it wouldn’t rank in my list of great
performances of the work.
The
Walton however is much better in all respects. The coupling
of the two concertos is one that will be very familiar but reacquantaince
with Piatigorsky’s performance does nothing to diminish its
considerable stature – or to note, in passing, how very much
it differs from the 1959 live performance given by Fournier
and the composer that has been resurrected by the BBC. The Russian
displays lyrical toughness and intensity in profusion, riding
over the up front studio set up - in truth much improved over
various incarnations. There is a sense of fantasy in the Allegro
appassionato second movement exceptionally well aided by the
strings of the Boston Symphony and their equally alert wind
principal colleagues. The finale spins a tremendously concentrated
introspection, taking in more fantasy and some melancholy –
and also, as we approach the final sections of the variations,
a sense of unresolved foreboding as well.
The
latest incarnation of this coupling is via this SACD. I listened
on an ordinary set up.
Jonathan Woolf
Gregor Piatigorsky (cello)
82876 66375 2 
