It's refreshing to come across a programme which is just that bit different, and I don't think I have previously met these four composers together on one disc. Arto Noras, 50 last year, is Finnish and a former Tortelier pupil. On the evidence of the playing here, he is certainly an accomplished performer. I don't like everything that he does—for a start, the way he pulls around the rhythm of the opening flourishes of the Saint-Saens worries me because it sounds more theatrical than the music warrants. He also inflects some phrases in a mannered way. On the other hand, he offers an attractive tonal warmth and his playing is committed and never dull, so that I quite enjoy his account of this vivid if unprofound concerto.
I like the playing better still in the other pieces. The two by Sibelius are called ''Cantique: Laetare anima mea'' and ''Devotion: Ab imo pectore''. These are rarities, and though the catalogue lists a couple of performances, they are with violin instead of cello. The booklet calls them ''great music'', but I see that RL has written that they ''fall short of the best''. I agree with RL's view, and would add that they offer less contrast than the titles would suggest. But they are well worth hearing, as one would expect of any music written by this composer in 1914, i.e. just before the Fifth Symphony. The performances strike me as satisfyingly idiomatic.
Bartok's Rhapsody No. 1 was originally for violin and piano, but the composer then orchestrated the piano part and made a further transcription for cello and piano. Here, his cello version is played with the orchestration intended to accompany the violin. No matter, since it works surprisingly well (the balance is doubtless assisted by the engineers) and the folk-inspired music comes over strongly in this form. Finally, the Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations have poise, charm and a fair degree of brilliance. In all these works the orchestra under Saraste is sensitively supportive, and the recording has clarity and a pleasing warmth.'