Shostakovich Cello Concertos

Yo-Yo Ma vc Boston Symphony Orchestra / Andris Nelsons (DG)

The first of three cello-centric releases in this week's selection features Yo-Yo Ma. In his review of Ma's new Shostakovich recording, Richard Whitehouse notes that it was with the First Concerto that Yo-Yo Ma 'firmly established himself on the international scene'. That earlier recording was with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Eugene Ormandy, and at the time Gramophone's Robert Layton wrote: 'Yo-Yo Ma plays with an intensity and eloquence that compels the listener and, as befits one who has been acclaimed as one of the greatest cellists now before the public, can hold his own against any of the competition one might care to name.' The new recording, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Andris Nelsons pairs the First Concerto with Shotakovich's Second, a work that Yo-Yo Ma has not previously recorded.

Ancient Modernity

Louise McMonagle vc (Delphian)

Cellist Louise McMonagle's debut solo album for Delphian opens with Errollyn Wallen's brief Postcard for Magdalena (a work included on the recently-released collection of Wallen's orchestral works on Resonus Classics) before moving through a sequence of solo cello works by living composers that engage with ancient music and techniques, with several premiere recordings included. McMonagle is a member of the Riot Ensemble and a specialist in contemporary music, and her commitment to the music of our time is an inspiration.

Fantasies

Zlatomir Fung vc Richard Fu pf (Signum Classics)

Cellist Zlatomir Fung is the guest on this week's episode of the Gramophone Classical Music Podcast. He discusses his new recording, 'Fantasies', with Editor-in-Chief James Jolly. Listen below, or on your podcast platform of choice.

Esther Abrami: Women

Esther Abrami vn Kim Barbier pf Lavinia Meijer hp Esther Abrami Quintet; Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra / Irene Delgado-Jiménez (Sony)

The most substantial work on this new album from violinist Esther Abrami is Ina Boyle's (1889-1967) Violin Concerto, written in 1932-33 and revised in 1935. This concerto has been recorded before (by violinist Benjamin Baker with the BBC Concert Orchestra and Ronald Corp on Dutton Vocalion), but Abrami's sequence of works by women composers places the late-Romantic concerto in a new and revealing context. The album features works from Hildegard of Bingen (O Virtus Sapientiae, arranged for violin and string quintet by Penelope Axtens), Ethel Smyth (March of the Women), Pauline Viardot-Garcia (Hai Luli!), Teresa Carreño (Mi Teresita 'Little Waltz'), and comes right up to the present day with music by Anne Dudley, Rachel Portman and Miley Cyrus. 

Beethoven & Lentz Violin Concertos

Arabella Steinbacher vn Luxembourg Philharmonic / Gustavo Gimeno (Pentatone)

This is not Arabella Steinbacher's first recording of Beethoven's Violin Concerto – her earlier recording with the WDR Sinfonie-Orchester and Andris Nelsons came out in 2009 on the Orfeo label – but this new account with the Luxembourg Philharmonic and Gustavo Gimeno for Pentatone is coupled with a new concerto (...to beam in distant heavens...) written for Steinbacher by Luxembourg-born composer Georges Lentz (b1965). Lentz's concerto is a reflection on the damage we are inflicting on our environment, and is also inspired by the work of William Blake.