Interpretations balancing depth and sensitivity make for a persuasive listen
THE STRAD RECOMMENDS
he Strad Issue: January 2025
Description: Interpretations balancing depth and sensitivity make for a persuasive listen
Musicians: Harriet Krijgh (cello) Tonkünstler Orchestra/Martin Sieghart
Works: Dvořák: Cello Concerto. Elgar: Cello Concerto
Catalogue number: CAPRICCIO C5534
There comes a time in every cellist’s career when they must scale the twin Everests of the Dvořák and Elgar concertos. Harriet Krijgh opts to place them together, offering an enticing coupling of these two repertoire peaks. The first thing you notice is the definition of the recording: Capriccio’s production team (in the Auditorium at Grafenegg) provide a truly immersive three-dimensional sound, in which every instruments seems to exist on balanced planes of their own; when Krijgh enters after Dvořák’s long introduction, the orchestra provides a generous cushion of sound to support her constantly singing tone, with its light, fast vibrato.
This is an expansive reading: the first movement alone is a minute-and-a-half broader than, for example, Steven Isserlis with the Mahler CO and Daniel Harding (Hyperion). This enables Krijgh to draw full expression from the work, although there are one or two moments when she appears to want to press on ahead of the accompaniment.
The pensive approach is well suited to Elgar’s more contemplative Cello Concerto. Refreshing, too, is the absence of ersatz sentimentality with which the work is sometimes distorted. There is a little more air around the sound here, much to the benefit of Elgar’s more complex orchestration. Krijgh brings sufficient weight to the outer movements, scampers through the Scherzo and maintains a daringly sustained tempo for the Adagio.
DAVID THREASHER
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