There's nothing here for Britain's anti-Sinopolites to add to their castigation of this controversial conductor. His and Mischa Maisky's interpretation of Elgar's Cello Concerto is deeply felt and has no idiosyncrasies of tempo. It reinforces Elgar's own description of the piece—''a big work, and I think good and alive''. Maisky's impressive playing of the introductory flourish announces that this will be a big-scale performance and DG have provided him with a beautifully-balanced recording. Soloist and conductor both convey the pathos of the music, but without any glutinous self-pity. Nobility is the order of the day.
Sinopoli's moderato for the first movement is a sensible tempo, and he takes care to bring out—without over-emphasis—the poetic detail in the orchestral accompaniment. Maisky imparts an air of mystery to the opening of the second movement and then gives a mercurial, virtuoso display in which clarity of articulation is paramount (as occasionally it is not in Tortelier's last and very fine recording for RPO Records/Pickwick with Groves). The Adagio is eloquently phrased and the finale, which Sinopoli keeps on the move, is equally fine. In many ways, this performance resembles the Isserlis/Hickox version for Virgin Classics in its avoidance of the sentimentality that disfigures some interpretations.
Maisky also gives a splendid account of Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations. As in the Elgar, the Philharmonia plays with aristocratic refinement, the woodwind solos being especially distinguished, and the recording is again first-class. But what a pity the opportunity was not taken to record the original instead of the Fitzenhagen version.'