Although performed and recorded relatively infrequently, Prokofiev's Sinfonia Concertante for cello and orchestra is an undisputed masterpiece, and this 2009 recording features a magisterial performance by Pieter Wispelwey. The Dutch cellist's broad tone, muscular technique, and intense expressivity ideally suit the work. Few readings of the enormous central movement hold the music together as well as this one, and while some might prefer more boldly bravura renderings of the work's famously difficult cadenzas, none could ...
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Although performed and recorded relatively infrequently, Prokofiev's Sinfonia Concertante for cello and orchestra is an undisputed masterpiece, and this 2009 recording features a magisterial performance by Pieter Wispelwey. The Dutch cellist's broad tone, muscular technique, and intense expressivity ideally suit the work. Few readings of the enormous central movement hold the music together as well as this one, and while some might prefer more boldly bravura renderings of the work's famously difficult cadenzas, none could say that Wispelwey doesn't have the formidable chops to pull them off brilliantly. Partnered with the rip-roaring Rotterdam Philharmonic led by firebrand conductor Vassily Sinaisky, Wispelwey's Sinfonia Concertante is clearly in the same league as the best performances of the work in the past 50 years. Mstislav Rostropovich's 1954 recording remains supreme -- how could it not, since Prokofiev worked closely with Rostropovich in fashioning it, and the Russian cellist gave the work its...
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