This is the third version to have come my way in the last few years of the dashingly eloquent Cello Concerto that Miklos Rozsa completed in 1968 for Janos Starker, and I can report straight away that it's also the strongest. Not only is Telarc's engineering incomparably more vivid and realistic than that of its predecessors, the actual performance is the most irreproachably stylish and urgently impassioned of the bunch. Lynn Harrell brings all his commanding presence, customary swagger and cast-iron technique to Rozsa's strikingly idiomatic solo writing. Add to the mix a polished and enthusiastic response from the Atlanta Symphony under Yoel Levi's eagle-eyed direction, and the results are exhilarating.
Written in 1953-54 for Jascha Heifetz, the irresistibly colourful and sublimely lyrical Violin Concerto remains perhaps the most popular of all Rozsa's 'serious' compositions. Of course, Heifetz's inimitable 1956 recording surely enshrines one of the most treasurable specimens of his jaw-dropping virtuosity. None the less, this newcomer possesses many sterling strengths of its own. Robert McDuffie makes a dauntingly accurate, sweet-toned soloist, producing the most radiant sonorities in the ravishing, Kodaly-esque slow movement, while Levi and his Atlanta band once again prove model partners.
Last but not least, McDuffie joins forces with Harrell for the engaging and eventful Tema con variazioni which originally began life as the centrepiece of the Op 29 Sinfonia concertante Rozsa penned in 1958 for Heifetz and cellist Gregor Piatigorsky. Again, the performance is utterly sympathetic and stands up perfectly well to that legendary 1963 Heifetz/Piatigorsky collaboration. All in all, a hugely rewarding triptych.'