Richard Strauss; Robert Schumann - Don Quixote; Cello Concerto (Mstislav Rostropovich)

Information

Composer: Richard Strauss; Robert Schumann

• Strauss - Don Quixote, Op. 35
• Schumann - Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. 129

Mstislav Rostropovich, cello

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra / Herbert von Karajan, conductor

Orchestre National de France / Leonard Bernstein, conductor

Date: 1975; 1976 / 1998

Label: EMI

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Review

It was high time this splendid performance was transferred to CD, for Karajan's interpretation of Don Quixote is not well represented by his 1987 DG recording, which is eccentrically recorded and is musically rather lacklustre. This 1975 recording, well engineered by EMI if one makes due adjustment for a tendency to a rather prominent bass, has the Berlin Philharmonic and their conductor at their best. Some of their performances at this peak period in their association have been regarded as lacking artistic depth, but this does not apply to their Strauss. No other conductor, but none, has produced such an enraptured appassionato from the strings at bar 361 in the fifth variation.

If for sheer charm and elegance the palm in this work must still go to Kempe, with Tortelier and Rostal (EMI), the combination of Karajan and Rostropovich, with the violist Ulrich Koch an outstanding Sancho Panza, constitutes a formidable challenge. Strauss preferred that the soloists should be orchestral principals but Rostropovich is here in no sense the grand virtuoso taking over the work and turning it into a cello concerto. Instead he assumes a concertante role, but of course no orchestral first cellist would be likely to perform the Vigil and Death scenes in a manner equal to the artistry to be encountered here.

— Gramophone

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Richard Strauss (11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer and conductor best known for his tone poems (Don Juan, Death and Transfiguration, Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, Also sprach Zarathustra, Don Quixote, Ein Heldenleben) and operas (Salomé, Elektra, Der Rosenkavalier). Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wagner and Franz Liszt. Along with Gustav Mahler, he represents the late flowering of German Romanticism, in which pioneering subtleties of orchestration are combined with an advanced harmonic style.

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Robert Schumann (8 June 1810 – 29 July 1856) was a German composer and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era, and left an array of acclaimed music in virtually all the forms then known. Schumann's published compositions were written exclusively for the piano until 1840; he later composed works for piano and orchestra; many Lieder (songs for voice and piano); four symphonies; an opera; and other orchestral, choral, and chamber works. Schumann suffered from a lifelong mental disorder, and died in 1856 without having recovered from his illness.

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Mstislav Rostropovich (27 March 1927 – 27 April 2007) was a Russian cellist and conductor, one of the best-known cellists of the 20th century. Born in Baku, Azerbaijan, he was trained by his parents and at the Moscow Conservatory (1943–48), where he was a professor from 1956. He was married to the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya. Although sometimes criticized for occasional over-romanticism, Rostropovich was admired for his keen musicianship. He was also well known for both inspiring and commissioning new works (over 100 pieces), which enlarged the cello repertoire more than any cellist before or since.

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