SHOSTAKOVICH

Cello Concertos Nos 1 & 2

Alisa Weilerstein (cello);

Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra/ Pablo Heras-casado

Decca 483 0835 60:52 mins

Shostakovich’s two cello concertos present such different challenges, it’s a rare cellist who shines as brightly in both. Alisa Weilerstein is wellmatched to the First Concerto: fierce, tight and articulate, this account fairly crackles. She etches a burning line, powered by a rhythmic elasticity that trumps any degree of glistening tonal beauty. Through the first movement she ratchets up tension, picking up the glaring theme from the horns, transforming it from a plangent wail into a scream.

There’s no let-up in intensity in a Moderato of impressive sweep, and a strong sense of apprehension keeps her cadenza compelling.

But like many of today’s virtuosos – including Truls Mørk – there’s a prepared precision to her manic scales which precludes a headlong leap into the fire. Whatever the flaws, Rostropovich’s early recordings capture a performer risking all.

The tragic-comic Concerto

No. 2, written while Shostakovich was recovering from a heart attack, is a harder nut to crack. High seriousness marks Weilerstein’s lyrical first movement: where the texture suddenly thins, Pablo Heras-casado and his forces create chamber-like episodes of luminous intimacy. Weilerstein spins a subtle narrative thread, holding her nerve magnificently in the blazing fanfares of the Scherzo, unleashing an assertive fury; I love the way she almost swings the middle section with its wild swoops and jazzy grand-standing.

She brings a thrilling edginess to the finale, but it can’t quite compare with Pieter Wispelwey (Channel), who limps through it with a sinister, supercilious grin, evoking more precisely the chill hospital ward in which it ends, machines ticking, chest rattling.