Elgar & Dvorák: Cello Concertos (CD)

Alban Gerhardt’s first studio recording of the two most famous concertos in the entire cello repertoire represents the fruit of 35 years of kinship with these masterpieces. Bolstered by the forces of the WDR Sinfonieorchester under Andrew Manze, Gerhardt offers interpretations which challenge inherited conventions and, in Gerhardt’s words, make a ‘return to the sources: the scores themselves’, prompting the question: should we consider anew what is the ‘correct’ approach of playing these works? His adherence to the text often leads to tempos and proportions that differ noticeably from the norm, which Gerhardt says feel both more alive and closer to the detailed musical instructions left by each composer. In this context, Gerhardt quotes Gustav Mahler: ‘Tradition must not be the adoration of ashes but the preservation of fire.’