H Casadesus • Haydn • J-B-A Janson

H Casadesus: Cello Concerto in C minor; Haydn: Cello Concerto in D, Hob. VIIB:2; J-B-A Janson: Cello Concerto in D

Valentin Radutiu (cello); Württemberg Chamber Orchestra/ Ruben Gazarian

Hanssler Classic HC16082 59:50 mins The disc’s front cover boldly asserts that the second of these cello concertos is by Johann Christian Bach. It’s only on the back that we discover it was actually written by the composer and viola player Henri Casadesus (1879-1947), and that it was ‘previously attributed’ to JC Bach. A footnote in the German booklet text (though not the abbreviated English translation) explains that Casadesus wrote it for the repertoire-starved Société des instruments anciens which had been founded by Saint-saëns, and the piece is quite obviously a 20th-century pastiche. The elaborately Romantic violin solo added to the slow movement’s reprise is itself worlds removed from JC Bach’s style. On its own terms, that slow movement is attractive enough, but it’s curious to find Valentin Radutiu taking up the cause of this anachronistic concerto, which, as a piece of subterfuge, is rather less convincing than the forgeries of Pugnani and others perpetrated in the early 20th century by Fritz Kreisler.

Haydn’s D major Cello Concerto is on the whole a less strong work than its C major companionpiece, and it’s possible to find Radutiu’s otherwise accomplished performance of its opening movement a little lacking in character. The long, stylistically incongruous cadenza, written for him by the German composer Tobias PM Schneid, is very much an acquired taste. The concerto by the 18th-century cellist and composer Jean-baptiste-aimé Janson is enjoyable, and its slow movement is particularly attractive. The Württemberg Chamber Orchestra under Ruben Gazarian offers firm support throughout. Misha Donat

PERFORMANCE ★★★

RECORDING ★★★★