Lalo: Cello Concerto; Berlioz: Love scene; Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto No 2

As you would expect of the composer of the Symphonie espagnole for violin and orchestra, Lalo's Cello Concerto has plenty of attractive ideas and moments of special orchestral colouring. Saint-Saëns hit the spot with his First Cello Concerto, but didn't quite repeat the feat with his Second, where some of the technical demands outbalance the rewards they deliver. In Pieter Wispelwey's new recording, it's the charm of the Lalo that comes across most fully. The stillness of Saint-Saëns's slow movement, for which the always sensitive Wispelwey professes a special affection, doesn't quite deliver the requisite magic. The two concertos are separated by nocturnal calm of the Scène d'amour from Berlioz's Roméo et Juliette.
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