Friedrich Kleinhapl, Dirk Kaftan - Nino Rota: Cello Concertos, Il Gattopardo (2012) CD-Rip

The music of Nino Rota is featured on this album with cellist Friedrich Kleinhapl and Philharmonisches Orchester Augsburg conducted by Dirk Kaftan. Rota is a musical chameleon who convincingly conjures Mozart, 19th-century Romantics, or Hollywood. The first of his two cello concertos on the album is a romantic throwback to the 19th century, though written in 1972. Kleinhapl is a perfect choice to perform this work, for his playing is very agile and expressive. His tends to have a thinner, more lyrical style of playing, like a violin, and his bow technique is fluid, moving easily between the strings. The concerto is highly dramatic, rather like a Romantic violin concerto, and both Kleinhapl and the orchestra build drama through observing every possible dynamic contrast, accelerando, and tempo change. Sometimes the recording's balance between the cello and orchestra sounds a little weak, as though the cellist needs to be brought more to the audio forefront. One can hear Kleinhapl hook into the emotion of the piece, particularly in the second movement. The third movement sounds more 20th century in tonality, and Kleinhapl makes the descending scales seem effortless. Rota's highly colorful orchestration gets the best out of each instrument. The second cello concerto is much more in the character of Mozart or Haydn, more "square" and classical in its rhythm and tone. The orchestra dialogues with the cello in the first movement, where listeners will note the virtual quotes from Mozart's Violin Concerto in G major. The second movement creates a sense of yearning, of seeking and searching. This movement is disproportionately long, but very beautiful, and there are hints or echoes of early to mid-20th century Russian composers. The third work on the album, a suite of dances and waltzes from the film Il Gattopardo by Italian director Luchino Visconti, is a delicious delight. "Valzer Verdi" suggests Viennese waltzes by Strauss, while Mazurka is Italian with a dash of Prokofiev or Dvorák thrown in. The Augsburg Philharmonic performs the Polka in perfect understanding of Central European spirit, while the "Balletto," which is undeniably Slavic in character, is phrased with intelligence: the players know where the music is going. It is to the credit of both the composer, who is capable of creating an incredible range of moods and styles, and the artists that the album is an absolute delight for the listener.