Reviewed 21 March 2023
Lalo's lesser-known concerto alongside the late Romanticism of Enrique Casals' almost unknown concerto, with stylishly elegant solos from Jan Vogler and wonderfully vital playing from the young festival orchestra
Enrique Casals was cellist Pablo Casals' younger brother, and his Cello Concerto was written in 1946, ostensibly for Enrique's daughter Pilar but you feel that Pablo's playing was in his mind too (though by then Pablo Casals had ceased to play in Spain because of Franco's regime). Enrique wrote the concerto in his beach house at Sant Salvador, and the spirit of Catalan music is never far away.
On this new disc from Sony Classical, Catalan conductor Josep Caballé Domenech and the Moritzburg Festival Orchestra with soloist Jan Vogler perform Enrique Casals' Cello Concerto and Édouard Lalo's Cello Concerto.
The Moritzburg Festival was founded in 1993 as a tribute to the immensely inspirational Marlboro Festival in the United States of America. In a booklet article, cellist Jan Vogler (artistic director and co-founder of the Moritzburg Festival, and also the Intendant of the Dresden Music Festival) talks about how he and his brother Kai (another co-founder) attended the Marlboro Festival in the late 1980s, and how the founding of the Moritzburg Festival Orchestra, made up of musicians from the annual Moritzburg Festival Academy, took its inspiration from Marlboro. A significant visitor to Marlboro in the 1960s was Pablo Casals and this disc is something of a tribute to him.
Enrique Casals' concerto is unashamedly romantic and must have seemed rather old-fashioned in 1946, and after all the composer was only in his early 50s. In fact, he subtitles the work 'In Romantic Serious Style'. The large first movement begins with a long orchestral introduction, establishing a rather particular sound world that permeates the whole movement. Perhaps it is Casals' use of Catalan music or perhaps simply his rather old-fashioned attitude, but the result is highly romantic and rather appealing. There is a suggestion too, of someone like Korngold who existed rather out of his own time. When the cello finally appears, Vogler is wonderfully elegant and stylish as the soloist spins melodies, creating a sense of late romanticism where Dvorak and Delius are channelled. The slow movement is simply a long, gorgeous free rhapsody for the cello over a gentle orchestral backdrop. Casals' sense of colour here is imaginative in his use of the orchestra. The engaging final movement is in the tempo of a Sardana, a Catalan dance, and the solo part interacts in quite a lively manner with the orchestral backdrop.
2023 is Édouard Lalo's bicentenary and his Cello Concerto, written in 1876, features as the opening work on the disc. The concerto is perhaps not as well known as some of Lalo's other symphonic works, but it was in Pablo Casals' repertoire and makes an apt pairing with Enrique Casals' concerto. The orchestral peroration at the beginning seems to face both backwards and forwards, and Vogler's wonderfully rich, expressive tone brings the rhapsodic first solo to life. The main part of the movement, though marked Allegro maestoso has a distinctly stormy feel to it. Again Vogler proves an elegant and expressive soloist, conjuring impressions of both Schumann and Dvorak. The slow movement opens as a gentle intermezzo with, ultimately a gorgeously sung melody from Vogler who makes it rather haunting. But this isn't all, and the faster sections change the tone completely with Vogler delightfully fleet and rhythmically alert. The final movement opens with another haunting, rather folk-inspired melody (Spanish-isms abound in the piece) before we launch into another lively and rather perky textures.
Vogler is a very fine cellist indeed, and this set would be well worth acquiring simply for his performance. Both concertos show off the way he can sing a melody, and bring out the haunting romantic textures of the works. But what brings about that little bit extra is the performance from the young players in the orchestra. Always rhythmically alert, wonderfully vital in the faster sections and able to bring out the evocative romanticism in the slower ones. Neither concerto is well-known and this disc makes a very appealing programme.
Édouard Lalo (1823-1892) - Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in D minor
Enrique Casals (1892-1986) - Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in F Major in Romantic Serious Style
Jan Vogler (cello)
Moritzburg Festival Orchestra
Josep Caballé Domenech (conductor)
Recorded 10-13 October 2022, Lukaskirche, Dresden
SONY CLASSICAL 1CD [58:30]
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