Notes and Editorial Reviews
MASTERPIECES IN TRANSCRIPTION
•
Richard Locker (vc); Sara Davis Buechner
1
, Susan Walters
2
, Martha Locker
3
(pn)
•
LEGGIERO 310 (66:18)
FRANCK
1
Sonata in A.
TCHAIKOVSKY
1
Sleeping Beauty:
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Entr’acte Symphonique pour M. Leopold Auer.
2
Swan Lake:
Pas d’action.
MOZART
3
Rondo in C,
K 373.
PAGANINI
Caprice,
op. 1 No. 13.
ROSENBLATT
3 Unaccompanied Recitatives.
3
PERLMAN
Hebräisch. Hebrew Chant and Dance.
ZITO
Ballade
This interesting disc begins with a standard concert piece, the Franck sonata, but in a transcription from the original violin version, followed by other transcriptions for cello of various secular and sacred pieces from the worlds of classical and Jewish music. Perhaps the most interesting and, to me, moving of the latter are the three unaccompanied recitatives written and published as such by the legendary cantor Josef Rosenblatt. Locker plays these with particular sensitivity and pathos that does not cross the line into treacly sentimentality.
Throughout the recital, one is aware of a fine cellist who uses a rounded, pointed tone with very fast vibrato in the manner of Feuermann. Moreover, his tone is consistently even in sound from top to bottom of his instrument, with only occasional moments of rough bowing. What I find particularly interesting is that his high range, though equally pointed, has the same dark quality as his mid and lower ranges. This quality gives a certain consistency, but also a certain sameness, to his tone, which can affect different listeners in different ways.
The disc gets off to a wonderful start in the Franck sonata, where he is partnered by a truly superb pianist on the same wavelength as he, Sara Davis Buechner. Their performance has a gripping, intense quality that is not flashy but penetrates deep into the heart of the piece, which makes this cello version the equal of the best violin versions I’ve heard. Happily, Buechner is also present on his recording of Auer’s transcription of the Entr’acte from
Sleeping Beauty,
giving emotionally charged support to a piece that sounds, in places, suspiciously like the “growing of the tree” segment of
Nutcracker.
Susan Walters, on the other hand, strikes me as a prosaic and uninteresting accompanist in the
Pas d’action
from
Swan Lake,
though Locker plays it very well indeed. In the latter part of this piece, one clearly hears a violin obbligato, but it turns out to be Locker himself, playing the violin obbligato on the cello.
Martha Locker’s playing is quite a bit better in the Mozart Rondo and the two short pieces by George Perlman. The remainder of the recital is played unaccompanied, and very well, by Richard Locker, though to my ears the “devil’s laugh” caprice by Paganini sounds a trifle odd when transposed to the lower key for cello. On Torrie Zito’s Ballade for cello, Locker overdubs himself, playing the five harmony parts.
The sound quality is just as I like it on a disc like this, forward and clean, with just enough natural room acoustic to impart a room sound without swamping the cello. This is a fine disc that will appeal particularly to cello lovers.
FANFARE: Lynn René Bayley
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Works on This Recording
1.
Sonata for Violin and Piano in A major, M 8 by César Franck
Performer:
Sara Davis Buechner (Piano),
Richard Locker (Cello)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1886; France
Venue: Clinton, NY, Studio A and Leggiero Recor
Length: 25 Minutes 24 Secs.
2.
Sleeping Beauty, Op. 66: Entr'acte symphonique pour M. Leopold Auer by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Performer:
Sara Davis Buechner (Piano),
Richard Locker (Cello)
Venue: Clinton, NY, Studio A and Leggiero Recor
Length: 5 Minutes 33 Secs.
3.
Swan Lake, Op. 20: no 6, Act 1 - Pas d'action by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Performer:
Susan Walters (Piano),
Richard Locker (Cello)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1875-1876; Russia
Venue: Clinton, NY, Studio A and Leggiero Recor
Length: 6 Minutes 28 Secs.
4.
Rondo for Violin and Orchestra no 2 in C major, K 373 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performer:
Martha Locker (Piano),
Richard Locker (Cello)
Written: 1781
Venue: Clinton, NY, Studio A and Leggiero Recor
Length: 5 Minutes 17 Secs.
5.
Caprices (24) for Violin solo, Op. 1: no 13 in B flat major by Niccolò Paganini
Performer:
Richard Locker (Cello)
Period: Romantic
Written: circa 1805; Italy
Venue: Clinton, NY, Studio A and Leggiero Recor
Length: 3 Minutes 16 Secs.
6.
Unaccompanied Recitatives (3), for cello by Joseph Rosenblatt
Performer:
Martha Locker (Piano),
Richard Locker (Cello)
Venue: Clinton, NY, Studio A and Leggiero Recor
Length: 9 Minutes 39 Secs.
7.
Hebräisch, for cello & piano by George Perlman
Performer:
Richard Locker (Cello),
Martha Locker (Piano)
Venue: Clinton, NY, Studio A and Leggiero Recor
Length: 4 Minutes 21 Secs.
8.
Hebrew Chant and Dance, for cello & piano by George Perlman
Performer:
Richard Locker (Cello),
Martha Locker (Piano)
Venue: Clinton, NY, Studio A and Leggiero Recor
Length: 2 Minutes 35 Secs.
9.
Ballade, for cello by Torrie Zito
Performer:
Richard Locker (Cello)
Venue: Clinton, NY, Studio A and Leggiero Recor
Length: 2 Minutes 54 Secs.
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