Unexplored
Nada Radulovich, cello.  Cullan Bryant, piano.

Navona Records 6171
Total Time:  50:29
Recording:   ****/****
Performance: ****/****

Cellist Nada Radulovich’s new solo album is an interesting collection of rarer works for her instrument.  The release is bookended by transcriptions of 19^th Century music but its main interest lies in the 20^th Century pieces at the center of the album.

Tchaikovsky never wrote a work for solo cello but here Radulovich has transcribed music that fits the instrument well.  Originally written for the mezzo-soprano Desiree Artot-Padilla, the Six French Songs, Op. 65 (1868) make for an enchanting work whose emotional content is still clear even with the poetry removed.  It has a bit of the salon to it.  The music allows her to explore the more lyrical aspects of the cello in these emotionally-rich pieces.  Wisely, though it is not in the booklet, the poems can be accessed as supportive material on Navona’s website.

One of the more interesting works though is this 1924 Cello Sonata by Gaspar Cassado (1897-1966).  Himself a fine cellist and student of Pablo Casals, Cassado’s composition teachers (Ravel and de Falla) would leave their own indelible stamps on his music.  He was primarily known though as a cellist.  The exploration of folk rhythms and music of Spain is on display throughout this four-movement work.  The opening “Rapsodie” has a more Saint-Saens- feel in its opening bars before shifting into a style more closely aligned with de Falla with some rich Romantic gestures, especially in the piano.  The “Aragonesa” is quite delightful with a tune also used by Liszt for his own Spanish Rhapsody.  It is a necessary glimpse of light-heardedness before we head into the very moving “Saeta”, a sort of emotional heart to the work.  The sonata is wrapped up with a traditional “Paso-doble.”  Indeed, it is a bit puzzling why this piece is still fairly unknown.  But Radulovich makes a great case for making it part of the repertoire.  The sonata appeared on Crystal Records release some twenty years ago but this is the only other version since then.

Even rarer is the Romantic Fantasy, Op. 43 (1966) by Ukrainian composer Antin Rudnytsky (1902-1975).  He was a noted pianist having studied with the great Artur Schnabel.  His composition studies were with two noted modernist composers of the day, Franz Shreker and Ferruccio Busoni.  It is rather fascinating that this work also has been somewhat ignored along with Rudnystsky’s many other compositions.  Though written later in the 20^th Century, the music tends to be couched in more traditional harmonic language as it explores folkish idioms.  The music though is stunningly beautiful and perhaps the best performance on this album.

As an encore, Radulovich has included a breezy rendition of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Flight of the Bumblee in a transcription by accompanist Cullan Bryant.

This is a good introduction to Radulovich’s playing with a program that features music beyond the normal repertoire.  The choices here all work well to explore her lyrical side with flashes of technique along the way.  Bryant also proves to be an apt supporter with plenty of additional interpretive touches along the way.

Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Cello Concerto
Briton Averil Smith, cello. Evelyn Chen, piano.
Houston Symphony/Kazuki Yamada
Naxos 8.573820
Recording:   ****/****
Performance: ****/****

For whatever reason, Naxos has embarked on a variety of recordings featuring the music of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895-1968).  Apart from his guitar concerto, his music does not seem to be performed quite as often.  His influence on American music can be heard in two of the composers that would study with him, Henry Mancini and John Williams.  The primary excitement over the present release is the resurrection of the composer’s 1935 cello concerto.

In many ways, the appearance of this work in the midst of immigration debates is somewhat apropos.  Castelnuovo-Tedesco struggled after emigrated to the United States after the rise of Mussolini.  He arrived in America without the great network of musicians he had built behind him and this often kept his music under the radar in his new country.  The concerto was written for the great Gregor Piatigorsky who premiered it under Toscanini in 1935 with no less than the New York Philharmonic.  But though concertos championed by Andres Segovia and Jascha Heifetz garnered the public’s attention, this particular work did not.  Piatigorsky essentially had the right to exclusively perform the work and though he did not give up the right, he did eventually cease performing it thus causing it to be forgotten.  Cast in F Major, the concerto is cast in a traditional three movement form.  The soloist opens the work with a forceful primary melody.  The orchestra soon gradually appears with flourishes of romantic color and support for a theme that is going to be varied as the movement continues.  The second thematic area has a nice dotted rhythmic idea with moments for long lyrical cello lines and brief spurts of virtuosic ideas.  This falling motif almost feels like a sigh for what was coupled with an insistence to survive.  The final bars have a sumptuous beauty as the cello works its way to its upper register.  This gets picked up in the lilting central movement which has a magical Hollywood quality to it.  There is even a light jazzy quality to the music as well which should certainly add to its appeal as it is simply gorgeous and full of subtle wit.  The final movement explodes with the orchestra setting up for the cello solo with a gradual build of excitement into an exhilarating finish that has an almost Resphigi-like feel.  One cannot help but think what Piatigorsky’s interpretation might have been like.  Smith certainly performs the work with great conviction and obvious appreciation for the many beauties of its lyrical moments.

Cellist Brinton Averil Smith has a penchant for bringing into the light great works of the past.  His recording here, made at concerts in April 2017, is an important achievement.  The second half of his program is a solo recital featuring several transcriptions by Castelnuovo-Tedesco of music by Mozart, Ravel, and Rossini, and a rare solo work of the composer’s as well.  Again, he had Piatigorsky in his ear as he developed these works.  The Mozart aria transcriptions from 1944 and the Rossini “Figaro” aria from 1943 were eventually taken up by the cellist after Heifetz urged him to reconsider playing them in concert.  These are all great additions to the solo cellist’s encore repertoire allowing the instrument to exploring its “singing” voice.  The transcriptions of two movements from Ravel’s Miroirs are basically the same with the addition of a cello voice.  The Impressionistic, and all too brief, final “Sea Murmurs” was arranged for Heifetz with Smith adapting to cello this music as well as the arias from Le nozze di Figaro.  These are all great miniatures that allow Smith to show off his own technique and interpretive qualities.  The Mozart features some equally sublime work by his accompanist Evelyn Chen whose technique and interpretive abilities are on equally fine display in the Ravel.

Raphael Wallfisch recorded this work on CPO in a series that will feature works by exiled composers who escaped the Third Reich.  It was released last year and not available for review.  There is certainly room for both.  Smith’s version features strong accompanimental support from the Houston Symphony.  There is an immediacy to the performance.  One can hear some subtle sounds from Smith, but the audience is inaudible