British cellist Jamie Walton has gained attention with several fine recordings on the small boutique label Somm. His accompaniment here, recording for Signum, is as big as they come: Vladimir Ashkenazy and the Philharmonia Orchestra. As it happens, where his aims and style fit with those of Ashkenazy, the results are impressive. Where Ashkenazy is somewhat ill at ease, the partnership is not quite as successful. The opening movement of Schumann's Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. 129, may fall into the latter category; ...
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British cellist Jamie Walton has gained attention with several fine recordings on the small boutique label Somm. His accompaniment here, recording for Signum, is as big as they come: Vladimir Ashkenazy and the Philharmonia Orchestra. As it happens, where his aims and style fit with those of Ashkenazy, the results are impressive. Where Ashkenazy is somewhat ill at ease, the partnership is not quite as successful. The opening movement of Schumann's Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. 129, may fall into the latter category; Schumann's involved cello writing here never allows grand gestures, and the performance does not take flight. In the short Silent Woods, Op. 68/5, of Dvorįk, an arrangement of a piano work, Walton is in control, and the results are richly lyrical. There are plenty of other recordings of the marquee work, the Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104, of Dvorįk, but this one merits consideration. This time Ashkenazy sets up the cellist effectively in the opening movement with a series of brisk,...
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