Li Wei Qin - Russian Cello Concertos (2019) CD-Rip

Only one of the seven works on this release by Chinese-Australian cellist Li-Wei Qin is called a concerto; the rest are simply works for cello and orchestra, and some were arranged from other media, at that. But this is a grouping of well-played performances that will likely introduce even confirmed Russian music fans to some unfamiliar pieces. Perhaps the four works by Glazunov in the middle of the program are the highlights. The cello writing is beautiful in these: sample the Concerto ballata in C major of 1931, which has a gentle idiom somewhat like that of the composer's Saxophone Concerto from a few years later. There is nothing terribly adventuresome about any of the Glazunov works here, but each of them is something Tchaikovsky might have written had he lived longer, and that is nothing to be dismissed. Tchaikovsky himself is represented by the Variations on a Rococo Theme, Op. 33, a Mozartian work played in the version by its dedicatee, Wilhelm Fitzhagen. That's the best-known piece on the program, and it is cleanly rendered by Qin and the Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice under Michael Halász. Two other Tchaikovsky works, the Pezzo capriccioso, Op. 62, and an arrangement by Tchaikovsky himself of the slow movement of his String Quartet No. 1in D major, Op. 11, are much rarer. The transformation of string quartet into cello movement is especially intriguing and may be unique in the literature. Rimsky-Korsakov's Serenade, Op. 37, was written for cello and piano and arranged for orchestra by the composer. The program may seem a miscellany, but there are many places that catch the ear, and the performances are competent.