Both of these new versions of the Dvorak Cello Concerto have their individual strengths, but their principal claims for priority in a crowded field lie in their couplings. Natalia Gutman's recording with Sawallisch and the Philadelphia Orchestra is unique in offering the Symphonic Variations as a very apt one, a good choice for those whose main interest is in the composer rather than the cello. In the Concerto Gutman is at her finest in the poetic moments. After an account of the first subject which is not as technically commanding as many, her playing emerges in ravishing delicacy with the second (track 1, 3'31''). She achieves a rapt poetry at the most delicate pianissimo and without undue slowing (the marking in tempo is almost always ignored). Starker is warmer and bolder with fuller tone in that key passage, but when the dynamic range of his cello is limited, I suspect that the impact and fullness of tone are due more than usual to close microphone balance, with that passage never dipping below a healthy mezzo-forte. Yet as in the fine recordings Starker made in the early days of LP, the security of his playing is most satisfying in all three movements. Gutman is more tender, more vulnerable, but magicks the ear more regularly with her individual phrasing. As to recorded sound, the RCA is far preferable (solo balance apart), when it is both clearer on inner detail and has a much more vivid presence. Though Gutman's Philadelphia recording is better than many from this source, with its helpful ambience, there is too much clouding of detail in tuttis, with a rather acid edge given to the high violins. Sawallisch's account of the Symphonic Variations is warmly and strongly characterized, but the sound on both the rivals I list (Classics for Pleasure and Chandos respectively) is markedly fuller and better focused in performances just as persuasive. One incidental merit of the new version is that with a span of little more than 20 minutes every one of the 27 variations (plus finale) is given a separate track.
The unique item on the Starker disc is the first ever recording of the Bartok Viola Concerto in the cello version prepared by the man who originally completed Bartok's sketches of this work, Tibor Serly. I am surprised to find that—according to the notes accompanying the disc—it was published some 30 years ago, but never taken up until Starker started playing it. There is a strong case for preferring the cello version, when the lower register gives extra warmth to the melodic writing, notably in the Adagio religioso slow movement. If Starker shows a degree of emotional restraint in the Dvorak—almost as though he no longer finds the piece quite so fresh—his performance of the Bartok is stirringly expressive, very idiomatically Hungarian in the rhythmic pointing and linking of contrasted sections. He is brilliantly backed up by Slatkin and the St Louis orchestra who offer some alert playing. I hope now that cellists may take up this version more widely, both in concert and on disc, even though that would be hard luck on viola players, whose repertory is even sparser. Couplings apart, both versions of the Dvorak Concerto I list remain preferable to the newcomers.'