Lalo: Cello Concerto - Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto No. 2 Pieter Wispelwey, Flanders Symphony Orchestra & Seikyo Kim

• Édouard Lalo (1832-1892): Cello Concerto in D Minor:
• 1 I. Prelude: Lento - Allegro maestoso - Tempo I 13:25
• 2 II. Intermezzo: Andantino con moto - Allegro presto - Andantino (Tempo I) - Allegro presto 06:00
• 3 III. Finale: Andante - Allegro vivace 07:34
• Hector Berlioz (1803-1869): Roméo et Juliette, Op. 17:
• 4 Romeo et Juliette, Op. 17: Scene d'amour 16:55
• Camille Saint (1835-1921): Cello Concerto No. 2 in D Minor, Op. 119:
• 5 I. Allegro moderato e maestoso 03:40
• 6 Andante sostenuto 09:31
• 7 II. Allegro non troppo 06:24
• Total Runtime 01:03:29

Info for Lalo: Cello Concerto - Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto No. 2

After their highly acclaimed recording of Britten's Cello Symphony, Pieter Wispelwey and the Flanders Symphony Orchestra conducted by Seikyo Kim turn to two romantic cello concertos whose neglect is hard to fathom. Edouard Lalo penned a variety of large scale orchestral works, including the famous Symphonie espagnole for violin, a piano concerto, and the Cello Concerto heard here. A strong work in the Germanic tradition, its comparative neglect in the concert hall is difficult to understand. The second Cello Concerto by Camille Saint-Saens, written in 1902, is totally overshadowed by his impressive and dazzling first concerto dating from 1872. The later work has all of the composer's flair for style, elegance and is possibly more challenging for the soloist than its A minor sibling.

“as Wispelwey's performance shows, [the Saint-Saëns is] a fine piece in its own right, though with more of a sentimental heart than his playing brings out. He's more in his element in the rugged solo writing in the Lalo, which opens in the most sombre D minor...but then gradually reveals a more relaxed, good-humoured side.” (The Guardian)

“It says much for the Saint-Saens concerto that it stands up well to such inspired competition.” (BBC Music Magazine)

“I am charmed by Wispelwey’s playing in the Lalo, I am bowled over by this performance of Saint-Saens asks of him, the multiple-stopping, the passages at the very top of the cello’s range, and so on- Wispelwey’s tone remains centered and mellifluous. Furthermore, he is an intelligent, stylish musician who makes the music interesting.” (International Record Review)

“[the Lalo] is an underrated piece and the performance given here is extremely fine...Wispelwey is in great form, ably supported by the orchestra and Seikyo Kim...The cello is recorded with clarity and possesses a slight cutting edge...The solo playing is immaculate.” (MusicWeb International)

Peter Wispelwey, cello
Flanders Symphony Orchestra
Seiko Kim, conductor

Pieter Wispelwey
is equally at ease on the modern or period cello. His acute stylistic awareness, combined with a truly original interpretation and a phenomenal technical mastery, has won the hearts of critics and public alike in repertoire ranging from JS Bach to Schnittke, Elliott Carter and works composed for him.

Highlights of the 16-17 season include a play-direct project with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, a performance of the complete Bach suites at Auditorium de Lyon and the City Recital Hall in Sydney, performances of Tavener’s Svyati with the Flanders Radio Choir and two recitals at King’s Place in London as part of their ‘Cello Unwrapped’ season. Pieter will also give series of extraordinary recitals at the Melbourne Recital Centre as part their Great Performer Series, where he will perform the complete Bach Suites, Beethoven’s complete works for cello and piano, and the two cello sonatas by Brahms over the course of three consecutive evenings.

Pieter Wispelwey enjoys chamber music collaborations and regular duo partners include pianists Cédric Tiberghien and Alasdair Beatson and he appears as a guest artist with a number of string quartets including the Australian String Quartet.

Wispelwey’s career spans five continents and he has appeared as soloist with many of the world’s leading orchestras including the Boston Symphony, Dallas Symphony, St Paul’s Chamber Orchestra, NHK Symphony, Yomiuri Nippon, Tokyo Philharmonic, Sapporo Symphony, Sydney Symphony, London Philharmonic, Hallé Orchestra, BBC Symphony, BBC Scottish Symphony, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Academy of Ancient Music, Gewandhaus Orchester Leipzig, Danish National Radio Symphony, Budapest Festival Orchestra and Camerata Salzburg. Conductor collaborations include Ivan Fischer, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Herbert Blomstedt, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Jeffrey Tate, Kent Nagano, Sir Neville Marriner, Philippe Herreweghe, Vassily Sinaisky, Vladimir Jurowski, Louis Langrée, Marc Minkowski, Ton Koopman and Sir Roger Norrington.

With regular recital appearances in London (Wigmore Hall), Paris (Châtelet, Louvre), Amsterdam (Concertgebouw, Muziekgebouw), Brussels (Bozar), Berlin (Konzerthaus), Milan (Societta del Quartetto), Buenos Aires (Teatro Colon), Sydney (The Utzon Room), Los Angeles (Walt Disney Hall) and New York (Lincoln Center), Wispelwey has established a reputation as one of the most charismatic recitalists on the circuit

In 2012 Wispelwey celebrated his 50th birthday by embarking on a project showcasing the Bach Cello Suites. He recorded the complete Suites for the third time, released on the label ‘Evil Penguin Classics’. The box set also includes a DVD featuring illustrated debates on the interpretation of the Bach Suites with eminent Bach scholars Laurence Dreyfus and John Butt. A major strand of his recital performances is his performances of the complete suites during the course of one evening, an accomplishment that has attracted major critical acclaim throughout Europe and the US. “On paper it is a feat requiring brilliance, stamina and perhaps a bit of hubris. In practice Mr. Wispelwey proved himself impressively up to the challenge, offering performances as eloquent as they were provocative” ( New York Times).

Pieter Wispelwey’s impressive discography of over 20 albums, available on Channel Classic, Onyx and Evil Penguin Classics, has attracted major international awards. His most recent concerto release features the C.P.E. Bach’s Cello Concerto in A major with the Musikkollegium Winterthur, whilst he is also midway through an imaginative project to record the complete duo repertoire of Schubert and Brahms. Other recent releases include Lalo’s Cello Concerto, Saint-Saen’s Concerto no.2 and the Britten Cello Symphony with Seikyo Kim and the Flanders Symphony Orchestra, Walton’s Cello Concerto (Sydney Symphony/Jeffrey Tate), Prokofiev’s Symphonie Concertante (Rotterdam Philharmonic/Vassily Sinaisky.

Born in Haarlem, The Netherlands, Wispelwey’ studied with Dicky Boeke and Anner Bylsma in Amsterdam and later with Paul Katz in the USA and William Pleeth in the UK.

Pieter Wispelwey plays on a 1760 Giovanni Battista Guadagnini cello and a 1710 Rombouts baroque cello.

Booklet for Lalo: Cello Concerto - Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto No. 2