Multiple outlets review Alban Gerhardt’s new album featuring the Cello Concertos of Elgar and Dvořák, recorded with the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln under Andrew Manze (on the Dvořák, according to the review). The assessments emphasize Gerhardt’s approach as “back-to-basics,” focusing on the score and avoiding the more overtly romantic, emotionally expressive style associated with prominent earlier performers. The Guardian notes that Elgar’s music requires careful attention to markings, and describes Gerhardt’s playing as straightforward and disciplined, rather than luxuriant or theatrically “heart-on-sleeve.” In the Dvořák concerto, the review describes a performance that is less showy and more poetic, with orchestral playing characterized as clipped and light on its feet, helping maintain momentum even during more turbulent passages. Across the accounts provided, the central theme is that Gerhardt’s interpretations seek nobility and clarity, presenting the concertos with a restrained but thoughtful character rather than prioritizing dramatic sentimentality.
Album review highlights Alban Gerhardt’s readings of Elgar and Dvořák cello concertos
Multiple outlets review Alban Gerhardt’s new album featuring the Cello Concertos of Elgar and Dvořák, recorded with the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln under Andrew Manze (on the Dvořák, according to the r...
- The album features Alban Gerhardt performing the cello concertos of Elgar and Dvořák.
- Reviews describe Gerhardt’s style as restrained and score-focused, avoiding overtly romantic interpretations.
- The Guardian highlights Elgar’s detailed markings and presents Gerhardt’s approach as attentive to them.
- For Dvořák, Andrew Manze and the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln provide accompaniment described as agile and generally light.
- Critics characterize the performances as noble and carefully articulated, including in more turbulent sections.
Gerhardt/WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln/Manze(Hyperion)Alban Gerhardt eschews the romantic, heart-on-sleeve interpretations of these famous concertos, and finds nobility and poetry even in the most turbulent musicAlban Gerhardt adopts a back-to-basics approach in these thoughtful readings of cello concertos by Elgar and Dvořák. Determined to counter ideas embedded in the collective musical psyche by the likes of Jacqueline du Pré and Mstislav Rostropovich, there is a straightforwardness here, and a refusal to luxuriate that may not please those used to more heart-on-sleeve interpretations. Nevertheless, by scrutinising the scores – and few composers were as pernickety with their markings as Elgar – he finds much that is refreshing as well as illuminating.In the Dvořák, he’s less theatrical, more poetic than his Soviet-born predecessor, aided by Andrew Manze, who keeps the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln clipped and generally light on its feet. Gerhardt’s is a noble, cleanly articulated performance that yearns where others prefer to gush and keeps its feet firmly planted in the Bohemian countryside, even when the music is at its most turbulent. Continue reading...
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