Reviews of Chopin Cello Waltzes Vol 1 CCS16298

Gramophone February 2001 by Duncan Druce

Chopin's music, so beautifully conceived for the piano's sonority and technique, is treacherous territory for an arranger. But a good case can be made for transcription to Chopin's next most favoured instrument, the cello, and Pieter Wispelwey makes it in his lively, eccentric booklet-notes. The performances, full of verve and expressive sensitivity, provide an even stronger argument. The valse arrangements by the 19th-century cellist Davidov transform Chopin's pianistic evocations into virtuoso cello pieces, most spectacularly so in the case of op 34 no 1, with its rocketing scales and sparkling passagework. That the original character often changes - the repeated-note figure at the start of Op 18 has quite different effect when articulated by a bouncing bow - seems not to matter when the music sounds so idiomatic in its new dress.

Glazunov's beautiful arrangement of the famous slow Etude from Op 25 and Piatigorsky's version of the Nocturne are just as successful. The artists' own arrangements are simpler in scope. The middle section of Op 68 no 2 is even left, most effectively, as a piano solo. The Mazurkas are, I'm sure, specially chosen for their appropriateness as cello pieces, and the lyrical Preludes sound almost impressive, if more overt and operatic than usual......

Very good recorded sound, brilliant and imaginative cello playing; and Dejan Lazic, still in his early 20's, moves easily from sensitive, discreet accompanist to ebulliant soloist in Op 3 Polonaise.