Salonen

Cello Concerto Yo-yo Ma (cello); Los Angeles Philharmonic/esa-pekka Salonen Sony 19075928482 34:25 mins Hearing Salonen’s last major concerto, written for violinist Leila Josefowicz (2009), I came away with the impression of sophisticated surface energy, but a work that somehow lacked ‘bones’.

This time the muse is Yo-yo Ma, and the result perhaps more interesting, certainly very beautiful. Ma is on eloquent form, and the work plays to his strengths, with long, searching lines of intense radiance high on the instrument.

There’s high-octane, Los Angeles glitter about the orchestral writing, which moves from dense, shiny textures thinning out to a more contrapuntal style, in Salonen’s words ‘chaos to line’. In the first movement the cello sings against scoring of Debussyan translucency, twining with spiraling wind solos, haloed by tuned percussion and celeste. Both here and in the slow movement, he achieves a sense of grand exaltation, ideally captured by these performers.

The slow movement starts on a similarly massive scale and is distilled down to a delightful duet between cello and alto flute. Seesawing harmonics and glissandos float in a weird, timeless vortex, until lower strings grip onto a rhythm once again. It’s a striking episode, and feels like something new for Salonen. The long final movement erupts with furiously fast cello writing above pattering congas and bongos. The combination has potential but the drums remain ethnic fashion accessories, until the cadenza brings them all together in a percussive frenzy. Elgar was on to something when he brought cello and timpani together in his Concerto. Helen Wallace PERFORMANCE ★★★★★

RECORDING ★★★★★