Antonio Meneses, Northern Sinfonia & Claudio Cruz
Release Date: 28 May 2012
Label: Avie
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 822252223729
Genres: Classical Orchestral
Description
In the year celebrating the 30th anniversary of his winning the Gold Medal at the Tchaikovsky Competition, cellist Antonio Meneses offers a release with two firsts: the world-premiere recording of Hans Gál's Cello Concerto, and his first recording of the Elgar Cello Concerto.
This year Antonio Meneses celebrates the 30th anniversary of winning the Gold Medal at the Tchaikovsky Competition, which launched the cellist's brilliant international career and a string of acclaimed recordings including a half dozen for Avie. His latest for the label includes a couple of firsts: the world-premiere recording of the Cello Concerto by Hans Gál, and Antonio's first recording of the Elgar Concerto. Bringing the Gál Concerto to light reveals the two works' commonality. With beautiful, broad orchestral brushstrokes, neither is a dazzling virtuoso showpiece, rather both are lyrical, contemplative, elegiac. Both were written in the UK, Elgar's in the Sussex countryside where he retired, Gál's in Edinburgh where he settled after escaping Nazi persecution in the 1930s.
Elgar wrote his last major work in the aftermath of World War I, by which time his music had gone out of fashion - a circumstance difficult to fathom today. Gál's Cello Concerto was completed in the years following World War II. Throughout his long career Gál adhered steadfastly to his lyrical compositional style which was usurped by post-war modernism. Today his music is being rediscovered and appreciated anew. The Elgar regained popularity in the 1960s, the decade when the Gál was last performed. As Antonio says of the latter, "This concerto by Gál could be considered one of the greatest discoveries in a long time, at least in the cello repertoire. It's a really beautiful concerto!"
Personnel: Antonio Meneses (cello), Northern Sinfonia, Claudio Cruz (conductor)
Critical acclaim for Antonio Meneses:
"Meneses takes his place alongside the greats in these now familiar concertos." - The Sunday Times
"Meneses plays as if inspired, as if motivated by something bigger than all of us...a truly wonderful thing." - MusicWeb International
"An invitation to an inner world...a true virtuoso." - Gramophone
Tracklisting
Danbi Um; Juho Pohjonen
Christopher Tyler Nickel, Sarah Jackson
Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford
Bruce Wolosoff
Charles Owen
Proteus Ensemble; Stephen Shellard
Benjamin Hochman
Apollo's Fire; Jeannette Sorrell
Yoichi Sugiyama
David Rabinovich
Badische Staatskapelle, Georg Fritzsch
Badische Staatskapelle, Georg Fritzsch
Badische Staatskapelle, Georg Fritzsch
Roberto Prosseda, London Philharmonic Orchestra / Nir Kabaretti
Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, Peter Szilvay, Aage Richard Meyer, Cam Kjoll, Ruth Potter
Joshua Bell
