None of the pieces featured on ‘The Ethnic Cello’ would qualify for inclusion in a basic CD library, though, viewed overall, the programme is pleasant enough. Miklos Rozsa’s well- constructed Duo for Cello and Piano opens to lively Allegro risoluto ed energico and concludes with an extended ‘Theme and Variations’. If you enjoy Rozsa’s Violin Concerto (personally, I don’t) you will know that the idiom crosses Bartok with a hint of Bloch and a double twist of Kodaly.
Bloch himself is said to have claimed that his Meditation hebraique – which he dedicated to Casals – is ‘as beautiful as Schelomo’, though the actual evidence is rather more modest. Bloch’s From Jewish Life is unpretentiously emotive and Gaspar Cassado’s 24-minute, Spanish-style Cello Sonata is at its best in the ‘Aragonesa’ second movement (which employs a tune that’s well-known in settings by Glinka and others) and Paso doble finale. But would you want to listen to the piece more than, say, twice? I doubt that I would.
Crystal’s annotation informs us that Roger Malitz has taught and toured widely, served as a chamber performer and appeared on American national radio and television. He plays nicely albeit with a somewhat limited tonal palette (at least in this context) and a slight sense of strain in the upper registers. The recordings are close but clear, the chosen pianists more than competent and the potential appeal for the programme limited (I would think) to cellists or cello fanciers. Others are advised to sample first.'