Young Matt Haimovitz has chosen two early cello concertos—the C. P. E. Bach A major and the Haydn C major—and one blatantly nineteenth-century arrangement in B flat of music by Boccherini, which should be known as 'the Grutzmacher', after the nineteenth-century arranger. The Grutzmacher/Boccherini has always been much loved for its charm and idiomatic qualities by cellists, who stubbornly refuse to give up playing it although its pedigree has long been unmasked. The C. P. E. Bach Concerto is also an arrangement, albeit by the composer, of a concerto originally written for harpsichord or flute though it will be less familiar to listeners. It is in fact a charming work with lively outer movements, perky and mercurial, and a deeply expressive—one might say melancholy—Largo. Though still only a teenager, Haimovitz gives commanding performances of the Grutzmacher/Boccherini and the C. P. E. Bach concertos.
Because of its hybrid quality, the B flat Concerto has been subjected to a wide spectrum of interpretations. Neither a truly classical nor a romantic work, it has lent itself to personal interpretation. Haimovitz gives a freshly rhetorical reading which should delight the Concerto's long-suffering fans. For my taste, he is a little heavy-handed in the Rondo, though his left-hand technique leaves nothing to be desired.
The C. P. E. Bach Concerto, itself a mixture of baroque and classical traits merits the wider circulation this recording should provide. Haimovitz plays decisively throughout, drawing a lovely tone from his Gofriller cello. However, here, and more particularly in the Haydn Concerto, he doesn't always take full advantage of the opportunities for phrasing offered by the composer. Without wishing to be in the least patronizing, one must remember that these are the performances of a very young, if extremely accomplished, player, who hasn't lived with the works all that long and who has probably already discovered new dimensions in them since making the recording. That said, it should be added that his performance of the Bach Largo is a remarkably personal statement.
To compare Haimovitz's fledgling performance of the Haydn C major Concerto with those of Schiff (Philips) and Rostropovich (EMI) is both an honour and a disservice to so young a player. While extraordinary in so many ways, his performance has neither the panache of the German's nor the beauty, control and sublimity of the Russian's—though certainly he may acquire these qualities in time. What he does bring to it is beautifully channelled youthful exuberance which the other players have necessarily lost, an in that sense this performance has something valuable to contribute to our understanding of this wonderfully sunny work.
Technically, Haimovitz has developed a very secure left hand which has yet to be matched by his bowing. Time and again, his performance is marred by an uneasy management of the bow. Individual notes are stretched out of shape, changes of the bow's direction want subtlety and, occasionally, the pulse of the music is momentarily unsteadied by his being in the wrong part of the bow. For example, the appoggiatura figures in the main theme of the Adagio of the Haydn come out as somewhat exaggerated. When he has this aspect of his technique fully under control what may we now expect?'