The Strad Issue: July 2025
Description: An unusual concerto coupling marks a promising debut
Musicians: Theodor Lyngstad (cello) Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra/Eva Ollikainen
Works: Kabalevsky: Cello Concerto no.2. Schumann: Cello Concerto
Catalogue number: OUR Recordings 8226926
Young Norwegian cellist Theodor Lyngstad, currently living in Copenhagen and solo cellist of the orchestra he appears with here, makes his recording debut with a disc of concertos written over a century apart.
Kabalevsky’s Second Cello Concerto of 1964 is a more interesting work than its relative neglect would suggest. Lyngstad gives a convincing performance, bringing vitality to the Presto marcato and finding a sweet tone high up on his Testore cello in the elegiac melody of the Andante con moto, though in the first of the concerto’s two cadenzas the sound of his strummed and double-stopped pizzicato is rather twangy.
Lyngstad’s opening phrase in Schumann’s concerto is full of feeling, and it is this ardour and his highlighting of the whimsical side of the solo part that characterises his first movement. The link passage to the slow movement is particularly beautifully done, with the change of mood perfectly nuanced. It is this movement that is the most rewarding of the three, sensitively phrased with sighing portamentos, and warm, even double-stopping.
In the finale Lyngstad’s semiquavers are well defined, but generally the movement lacks verve and excitement and the solo part needs more heroic presence. Here, I’d also wish for a greater focus and clarity of orchestral sound. JANET BANKS