Elgar: Cello Concerto in e minor, Op.85; Violin Concerto in b minor, Op.61

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Total Tracks: 7   Total Length: 71:28

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Anastasia Tsioulcas

eMusic Contributor

04.22.11
Pablo Casals, cello, and Albert Sammons, violin, w/ BBC Symphony Orchestra under Sir Adrian Boult, Elgar: Cello Concerto in e minor, Op.85; Violin Concerto in b minor, Op.61
2000 | Label: Avid Records / The Orchard

This recording offers two legendary performances on a single album: Albert Sammon's confident, forceful 1929 reading of Elgar's bristling Violin Concerto, led by Henry Wood, and the magnetic, luminous Pablo Casals '1945 interpretation of Elgar's extraordinarily moving Cello Concerto, conducted by Sir Adrian Boult. Even if Casals occasionally goes a bit astray technically, the emotional energy of both of these performances is transcendent and in both cases the marriage between composer and interpreter is a perfect, glorious match.

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Correction to the Violin Concerto credits

welshbob

The Orchestra and Conductor should be The New Queens Hall Orchestra under Sir Henry Wood. The Cello credits are correct

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a definite yes

ChiVN

I didn't really appreciate Casals until I heard his Elgar. So gritty and real, you can almost see him playing in your mind.

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Special

akfarrar

Both pieces and their performances are stunning in their own way. You would not get similar recordings nowadays - tastes have changed; but if you already know the pieces these are well worth adding to your collection. You'll have to accept the constant downpour of static - but it is suprisingly easy to ignore. Boult sets a benchmark others frequently fail to equal.

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Go for the Sammons

RonanM

The Violin concerto : Despite the near-legendary status of Menuhin's recording, it was Sammons who came closest to Elgar's score (Menuhin slows down in places where he can't manage the notes). His reading, too, shows greater maturity - he seems more in touch with the strange mixture of energy, melancholy and, at times, anger that characterise late Elgar. The sound, too, is amazing. Sammons combines the sweetness of Kreisler with a darkness that is utterly personal. A treasure of a recording.

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