KABALEVSKY Cello Concerto No. 2; SCHUMANN Cello Concerto  Eva Ollikainen, cond; Theodor Lyngstad (vc); Copenhagen Phil  OUR RECORDINGS 8.226926 (52:39) Reviewed from a FLAC download: 96kHz/24-bit
I was delighted to get this recording the Kabalevsky Second since it is one of my favorite cello concertos. The Dvořák and Elgar occupy the two top spots for me but after that the Kabalevsky Second battles with the Shostakovich First for third place. It’s in three continuous movements (30 minutes in this performance) and was composed in 1964. The music is strongly influenced by Kabalevsky’s teacher Nikolai Myaskovsky and I hear plenty of influence from Shostakovich in it too. A low, ominous pedal point in the double basses starts the work with an eight-note, pizzicato theme emerging from the soloist. That theme recurs throughout the piece, sometimes in modified form, and in different sections of the orchestra. The slow and foreboding mood continues until the 5-minute mark when the tempo ramps up and things get hectic for a few minutes until returning to the slow tread of the opening. The final two minutes give the music over to the soloist with a cadenza that bridges us to the second movement. The presto scherzo explodes in Shostakovichian fashion in 3/4 time, the soloist in dialogue with the band. The music is hectic and scintillating. Another cadenza occurs at the two-thirds mark initially punctuated by percussion but finally losing the movement’s energy and returning to the somber tread of the opening of the piece. This leads directly into the Finale in dream-like fashion. The cello provides a langorous and serene melody over the strings. Things intensify again with a recurrence of the opening motif in modified form. The music winds back down and it ends in stillness and resignation.
The performance from cellist Theodor Lyngstad and the Copenhagen Phil under Eva Ollikainen is excellent. I have performances of this concerto from Isserlis, Thedéen and Lindberg (all cellists whom I admire) and Lyngstad is right up there with them with his strong technique and excellent tone. The recorded sound is also top notch with perfect balances. I will happily return to this recording often.
The coupling, Schumann’s Cello Concerto, is an unexpected pairing. While the two works are both in minor keys and share similar construction in that both are in three continuous movements, they strike the listener much differently. Schumann’s concerto, written about 114 years earlier, is refulgently Romantic and tuneful and is a repertoire warhorse. This performance (22:47) is quite fine and compares favorably with Starker’s Living Presence recording which takes almost a minute longer overall. I would even go so far as to say that Lyngstad demonstrates a more disciplined and accurate performance than does Starker and the sound of this new one has a better balance and blend than the old Mercury. Definitely a keeper. This appears to be cellist Theodor Lyngstad’s recording debut. I can urgently recommend it. Mark Novak

5 stars – Great performances, highly recommended.