Each Friday we select a track from a Naxos Music Group album released twenty years ago to provide the accompaniment for five minutes of your downtime.
This week’s pick from the Orfeo label (C621061A) is the second movement of English composer William Walton’s Cello Concerto, a work that provided a rich, atmospheric display vehicle for both soloist Daniel Müller-Schott and conductor André Previn, who was a personal friend of Walton. The second movement is a test of the soloist’s virtuosity, with flickering tone colours and flute-like harmonics combining with brilliant scales and demanding multiple-stopping. After two brief cadenzas, Walton recalls the cello’s lyrical qualities, and in a duet with the orchestral winds, he creates a kaleidoscope of virtuosic rhythmic effects that exploit the instrument’s range of sonorities.
Cello Concerto – Allegro appassionato (C621061A)