Pieter Wispelwey's new recording of Weinberg's Cello Concertino (1948) and Fantasy for Cello and Orchestra (1953) has received the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik. The album, recorded with Belgian ensemble Les Métamorphoses under Raphaël Feye on Evil Penguin Records is available here.
"Pieter Wispelwey inflects the solo cello part with tremendous artistry, sculpting Weinberg’s melodic lines with a wonderful sense of colour and imagination yet without succumbing to indulgent emotion even in the most heart-rending passages. The Belgian ensemble Les Métamorphoses under Raphaël Feye are admirably responsive partners both in this work and in the Fantasy, another attractive work in which Wispelwey mesmerises the listener with his charismatic shaping of the hauntingly mysterious waltz in the slow sections and the rumbustious dance rhythms of the central Allegro."
Performance ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Recording ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
- Erik Levi, BBC Music Magazine, April 2022
" Wispelwey plays with supple energy, keeping emotion in check in the lament at start and finish, the double-stopped chords clean and precise, the pizzicato warm and fluid."
- Fiona Maddocks, The Guardian, May 2022
"Pieter Wispelwey captures the music’s claustrophobic intensity with even greater acuity. At times it feels as though he is merely breathing on his instrument, whispering emotional confidences."
- Julian Haylock, The Strad, June 2022
Cello Concertino; Fantasy for Cello and Orchestra; Chamber Symphony No. 4
Jean-Michel Charlier (clarinet), Pieter Wispelwey (cello); Les Métamorphoses/Raphaël Feye
Evil Penguin EPRC 0045 67:01 mins
