Bohuslav Martinů; Paul Hindemith; Arthur Honegger - Cello Concertos (Johannes Moser)

Information

Composer: Bohuslav Martinů; Paul Hindemith; Arthur Honegger

• Martinů - Cello Concerto No. 1, H. 196
• Hindemith - Cello Concerto
• Honegger - Cello Concerto

Johannes Moser, cello

Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern

Christoph Poppen, conductor

Date: 2011

Label: Hänssler

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Review

The most popular modern cello concertos tend to be lyric-dramatic, works that appear to tell a story, such as Elgar’s, Shostakovich’s First, Myaskovsky’s. The three works performed here by Johannes Moser have their roots in more Classical models, their expressive purpose arising from but in balance with their architectural-structural concerns.

Honegger’s Concerto (1929) is the earliest and by some way briefest of the three. Its winning opening lyrical idea recurs at key points, providing thematic unity. Martinu’s First Concerto followed a year later but was twice revised (1939 and 1955). Like Hindemith’s (1940), its three-movement format is more traditional in ethos, fast-slow-fast, and the heart of both lies in their central slow spans. Both are more complex than they at first seem.

Moser’s playing is technically adroit and he has audibly tuned in to each composer’s idiom. From his brief introductory note it is clear he sympathises with their individuality of approach and refusal to kowtow to serialism, though their example was followed by rather more creators than he gives credit for. The grouping is a revealing one none the less and Moser’s accounts are competitive without being first choices. His lightness, at times thinness, of tone is a disadvantage, cf Poltéra’s Honegger. Wallfisch with Yan Pascal Tortelier is peerless among modern interpreters in the Martinu and I prefer him also in the Hindemith (though Paul Tortelier remains my top choice). Geringas’s programme of all three Hindemith concertos has obvious appeal but Moser’s has a more focused context. Hänssler’s fine sound makes this an attractive alternative version for all three works.

— Guy Rickards

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Bohuslav Martinů (December 8, 1890 – August 28, 1959) was a Czech composer of modern classical music. He was a violinist in the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, and briefly studied under Czech composer and violinist Josef Suk. Martinů was a prolific composer who wrote almost 400 pieces. Many of his works are regularly performed or recorded, among them his oratorio The Epic of Gilgamesh, his six symphonies, concertos, chamber music, a flute sonata, a clarinet sonatina and many others. Martinů's notable students include Alan Hovhaness, Vítězslava Kaprálová, Jan Novák and many others.

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Paul Hindemith (16 November 1895 – 28 December 1963) was a German composer and theorist. Studied in Frankfurt, he gained early experience as a violinist and became a prominent composer by the late 1920s. His works range from chamber music and song cycles to operas such as Mathis der Maler. He taught in Turkey, the United States and Switzerland. Opposed to twelve-tone techniques, he sought to revitalize tonality, developing his own harmonic theory, outlined in The Craft of Musical Composition. Hindemith also promoted Gebrauchsmusik ("utility music"), viewing composers as craftsmen serving social needs

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Arthur Honegger (10 March 1892 – 27 November 1955) was a Swiss composer who spent most of his life in France. He studied at the Zürich Conservatory and after 1912 at the Paris Conservatory. After World War I he was associated with a group of young composers known as "Les Six". Honegger was a prolific composer and made notable contributions to opera, ballet, orchestral, choral, chamber and film music. His music is written in a bold and uninhibited musical idiom that combines the harmonic innovations of the French avant-garde with the large forms and massed sonorities of the German tradition.

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Johannes Moser (born 14 June 1979 in Munich) is a German-Canadian cellist. He began studying cello at age eight and trained under David Geringas. Moser gained international prominence after winning first prize at the 2002 Tchaikovsky Competition and later received the Brahms Prize in 2014. He has performed with leading orchestras worldwide and collaborated with renowned conductors. His acclaimed recordings have earned major awards. Committed to contemporary music, he has premiered and commissioned numerous works. Moser teaches at the Cologne Hochschule für Musik und Tanz.

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