{"product_id":"cellobration","title":"Cellobration","description":"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12bi\"\u003eCELLOBRATION \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"BULLET12b\"\u003e•\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e Amit Peled (vc); Eliza Ching (pn) \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"BULLET12b\"\u003e•\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e CENTAUR 3047 (59:30) \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan class=\"COMPOSER12\"\u003eMENDELSSOHN \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12bi\"\u003eOn Wings of Song\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003eop. 34\/2. \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"COMPOSER12\"\u003eDAVIDOFF \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12bi\"\u003eAt the Fountain, \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003eop. 20\/2. \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"COMPOSER12\"\u003eECCLES \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12b\"\u003eCello Sonata in g. \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"COMPOSER12\"\u003eGRANADOS \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12bi\"\u003eSpanish Dance,\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e op. 37\/No. 5, “Andaluza” (“Playera”). \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"COMPOSER12\"\u003eFAURÉ \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12bi\"\u003eElégie. \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"COMPOSER12\"\u003eLIGETI \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12b\"\u003eSonata for Solo Cello\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"COMPOSER12\"\u003e. BACH \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12bi\"\u003ePastorella \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12b\"\u003ein F. \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"COMPOSER12\"\u003eGLAZUNOV \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12bi\"\u003eChant du Ménéstrel. \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"COMPOSER12\"\u003eF. COUPERIN \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12bi\"\u003ePièces en Concert. \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"COMPOSER12\"\u003eCASALS \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12bi\"\u003eSong of the Birds \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eHere is a collection of works for cello and piano both familiar and unfamiliar. Among the familiar are Fauré’s popular \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eÉlégie\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e—albeit better known in its orchestral setting—transcribed for cello and piano, and Mendelssohn’s \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eOn Wings of Song\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e, originally an actual song for voice and piano, that has been arranged and transcribed many times (Liszt and Heifetz both had a crack at it). In the unfamiliar category are a cello sonata by the virtually unknown Henry Eccles (1670–1742)—an English Baroque musician who ended up a member of Louis XIV’s King’s Band—and practically everything else on the disc, which though well known to cellists and often recorded, are not your usual fare on recital programs, except perhaps as encore pieces. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eThe Israeli-born Amit Peled plays a c.1689 cello by Andrea Guarneri, updated and fitted to modern standards. This, as far as I can tell, is only Peled’s second CD; the first, released in 2009 (Centaur 2988) was titled \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eThe Jewish Soul\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e, and consisted of Jewish themed works, though not all necessarily by Jewish composers. For example, it included Bruch’s ubiquitous \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eKol Nidrei. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eThe “discovery” on this new disc is the Eccles sonata. Very little is known about this obscure violinist\/composer, other than that he was born in England, was the elder brother to a more successful sibling John, whose success over his own he resented. Peeved by his perceived neglect, he moved to Paris, where he got himself hired on at the King’s court. What music he did write was either adapted from works by the Italian composer Giuseppe Valentini (1681–1753) or heavily influenced by them. In 1732, Eccles published 12 sonatas for gamba and figured bass; but according to the booklet note, the G-Minor Sonata given on the present CD is a transcription from an earlier set of violin sonatas. It takes the form of a typical \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003esonata da chiesa\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e (slow, fast, slow, fast), and considering its model, the piece, not surprisingly, is in an Italian style similar to what you would expect to hear from Vivaldi. What \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eis\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e perhaps surprising is that for a composer as virtually unknown as Eccles, there are five listed recordings of this sonata, going all the way back to a 1930 violin version played by Jacques Thibaud. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eLatvian-born and Russian-trained, Carl (Karl) Davidoff (1838–89) was one of the great cello virtuosos of the 19th century. Tchaikovsky hailed Davidoff as “the tsar of cellists,” and the two men were friends and associates through their mutual connection to the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Davidoff’s \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eAt the Fountain\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e is a popular encore piece that has had several recordings, including ones by Pieter Wispelwey, Miklós Perényi, and Jan Vogler. How would I describe the piece? A \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eFlight of the Honeybee \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003efor cello: a nice little A-B-A form in which the bee leaves the hive and busily buzzes about to gather nectar and pollinate the petals (A), tarries momentarily to make love to a flower (B), and assisted by a tailwind returns home to the hive faster than it left (A). \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eFrom the 12 Spanish Dances by Enrique Granados, Peled plays a cello arrangement of the most popular number in the set, the No. 5. Titled \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eAndaluza\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e in the composer’s original version for piano, the piece has alternately come to be called \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003ePlayera\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e. It can be heard on some 140 recordings in arrangements for guitar, violin, voice, and in its original piano version, including by the composer himself. Nor does Peled have the field all to himself on cello. The piece has been recorded by Alban Gerhardt and Jamie Walton. One can easily appreciate the great popularity of the piece. Its guitar-like strumming accompaniment provides the underpinning for an alluring melody in the style of a seguidilla, a folksong or dance of Castillian origin. Bizet drew upon the seguidilla for his aria “Près des ramparts de Séville” in \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eCarmen. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eGyörgy Ligeti’s Sonata for Cello Solo has also received its fair share of recordings, one of which in particular, with Matt Haimovitz on Deutsche Grammophon, is especially noteworthy. Not unlike Paul Kletzki, the Jewish-Hungarian Ligeti (1923–2006) also suffered at the hands of both the Nazis and the Soviet Communists. The sonata heard here did not receive its first performance until 1983, but it’s an early work dating from the composer’s Hungarian period. In only two movements, its first was written in 1948, when Ligeti was 25; its second movement, five years later in 1953. The piece is clearly influenced by Bartók and Kodály. Glissando chords and pizzicato punctuate a melancholy “Dialogo,” marked \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eadagio\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e, followed by a \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003emoto perpetuo\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e Capriccio, marked \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003epresto con slancio\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e, a real test of the player’s mettle. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eBach’s F-Major \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003ePastorella\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e was originally composed as a four-movement suite for organ. Only its opening movement is heard here, but Bach recycled its concluding Gigue as the closing movement to the \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eBrandenburg Concerto No. 3. \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003eAccording to the booklet note, this arrangement by Pablo Casals, in a handwritten score, was acquired by the Beaux Arts Trio’s cellist, Bernard Greenhouse, and from him passed to Peled. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eGlazunov’s \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eChant du Ménéstrel\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e (Troubadour’s Song) is almost as popular, if you count numbers of recordings, as the Granados \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003ePlayera\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e. Frankly, it’s little more than a sentimental salon piece that happens to have been made famous by Beatrice Harrison, the British cellist who had the distinction of being Elgar’s handpicked player to make the official HMV recording of the composer’s Cello Concerto under his direction. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eWhen it comes to the Couperin \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003ePièces en Concert\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e, I wish I could cite its provenance definitively, but unfortunately, neither the CD’s track listing nor the booklet note identifies the specific set of suites whence it comes. Even more curiously, other recordings of the work, as well as other references to it, are equally silent on the subject. Finally, by searching for a combination of Couperin and Bazelaire, the work’s arranger, I hit upon a program note from the 2002 Tyalgum (New South Wales) Festival that asserts that Bazelaire’s arrangement is a mixed-movement compilation drawn from Couperin’s \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eNouveaux Concerts\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e published in 1724. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eIf you check ArkivMusic’s listing for the Casals piece under its English title, \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eSong of the Birds\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e, you will find only this one recording by Peled. But there are a couple of others listed under its Spanish title, \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eEl Cant dels Ocells\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e. I’d have expected more, including one by the renowned cellist himself. The piece is an arrangement of a traditional Catalan folk song, which embodies, in Peled’s words, “a spiritual communication.” \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eI’ve said nothing about the Mendelssohn or Fauré pieces because they’re so well known there’s nothing to say. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eBy all evidence, Amit Peled is a superb cellist. His technical prowess in the Davidoff and Ligeti vouchsafe that; and his tone, of pellucid purity, gleams with a glint of gold in the slow, lyrical numbers. As an introduction to the artistry of this fine up-and-coming young artist, this album showcases his versatility in a wide range of repertoire. But now that Peled has produced two CDs of what are essentially arrangements, encore pieces, and lighter fare—except for the Eccles and Ligeti sonatas—I look forward to hearing him in some of the more substantial repertoire for his instrument. Pianist Eliza Ching has a somewhat lesser role to play in some of these numbers, but she carries out her role as accompanist admirably. Recorded sound is excellent. Recommended for an hour’s worth of canapés to whet the appetite; now bring on the main course. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan style=\"font-weight:bold\"\u003eFANFARE: Jerry Dubins \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Centaur Records","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":49703922598168,"sku":"044747304724","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/1627704.jpg?v=1777720238","url":"https:\/\/hbdirect.com\/products\/cellobration","provider":"HBDirect","version":"1.0","type":"link"}