Donald Tovey - Cello Concerto; Air for Strings; Elegiac Variations (Alice Neary; George Vass)

Information

Composer: Donald Tovey

1. Cello Concerto, Op. 40: I. Allegro moderato
2. Cello Concerto, Op. 40: II. Andante maestoso
3. Cello Concerto, Op. 40: III. Intermezzo. Andante innocente, con moto quasi allegretto
4. Cello Concerto, Op. 40: IV. Rondo. Allegro giocoso
5. Air (Andante cantabile) for strings (1933) [arr. Peter Shore]
6. Elegiac Variations, Op. 25, for cello and piano

Alice Neary, cello

Ulster Orchestra

George Vass, conductor

Gretel Dowdeswell, piano

Date: 2006

Label: Toccata

https://toccataclassics.com/product/tovey-cello-concerto-air-elegiac-variations/

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Review

A chance to get to grips with Tovey’s massive Cello Concerto

With a playing time of nearly 55 minutes, Sir Donald Tovey’s Cello Concerto (composed in 1932‑33 for the incomparable Pablo Casals) is almost certainly the longest ever written. Casals gave the world premiere in Edinburgh’s Usher Hall on November 22, 1934, with the composer conducting the Reid Orchestra. Two London performances by the dedicatee followed in 1935 and 1937, the second of which (with Boult and the BBC SO) was broadcast and preserved on acetate (it’s available on Symposium). Plans for a modern recording fell through a decade or so ago; now Toccata Classics have at last delivered the goods.

Readers who know and love their Brahms and Elgar will recognise many a stylistic and temperamental bond in this painstakingly plotted music. However, I do feel the protracted opening Allegro moderato constitutes something of a stumbling block. Both middle movements do little to dispel the obstinately somnolent mood – although the finale’s jocular yet cleverly manipulated antics nearly save the day. Having enjoyed grappling with Tovey’s large-scale Symphony in D last summer (8/06), I shall persevere. Alice Neary, who impressed me on a recent anthology of Bax chamber music (Naxos, 8/06), performs valiantly, with sympathetic (if at times rather under-energised) support from George Vass and the Ulster Orchestra. Throw in the engaging fill-ups, decent sound and assiduously detailed booklet-notes, and it adds up to yet another intriguing release from this young label.

-- Andrew Achenbach, Gramophone

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2007/jan07/tovey_cello_tocc0038.htm

https://www.classicalsource.com/cd/donald-francis-toveys-cello-concerto/

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/feb/09/classicalmusicandopera.shopping4

https://www.allmusic.com/album/sir-donald-tovey-cello-concerto-op-40-mw0001861296

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Donald Tovey (17 July 1875 – 10 July 1940) was a British musical analyst, musicologist, writer on music, composer, conductor and pianist. He had been best known for his book Essays in Musical Analysis and his performing editions of works by Bach and Beethoven, but since the 1990s his compositions (relatively small in number but substantial in musical content) have been recorded and performed with increasing frequency. Among Tovey's large scale compositions are the Piano Concerto (1903), the Symphony (1913), and the Cello Concerto (1935, for his longtime friend Pablo Casals).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Tovey

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Alice Neary enjoys a varied performing career as a chamber musician, soloist and as principal cellist of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. She studied with Ralph Kirshbaum at the Royal Northern College of Music and with Timothy Eddy at Stonybrook, USA. Neary was a member of the Gould Piano Trio from 2001-2018, participating in over 25 CD releases, and has appeared as guest cellist with other groups including the Nash Ensemble, Ensemble 360 and the Endellion, Elias, Bingham and Heath quartets. As a teacher, she is now based in her home town of Cardiff at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.

https://aboynecellos.co.uk/tutors/alice-neary/

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English conductor George Vass studied at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and the Royal Academy of Music in London. He was appointed Artistic Director of the internationally renowned Presteigne Festival in 1992, having served the Hampstead and Highgate Festival in a similar capacity from 2004 until 2009. He is also founder and Artistic Director of the Nova Music Opera. Vass has made over 30 commercial recordings for labels Dutton, Champs Hill, Guild, Lyrita, Naxos, Resonus Classics, SOMM and Toccata Classics. He has also broadcast for BBC Radio 3 and Channel 4 television.

https://georgevass.co.uk/

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