Seth Parker Woods: From Ordinary Things

The Strad Issue: June 2026

Description: A highly personal programme reveals a gem of a sonata

Musicians: Seth Parker Woods (cello) Julia Bullock (soprano) Conor Hanick, Andrew Rosenblum (piano)

Works: Music by Léon, Previn, Rachmaninoff and Walker

Catalogue number: PLATOON PLAT29870

Two cello sonatas and two songs make for a striking if slightly odd programme on this rewarding disc from Texas-born cellist Seth Parker Woods. What brings his repertoire together? Nothing much, save Woods’s own creative personality and the musical collaborations and friendships he has forged over the years. Indeed, there’s clearly a warmth and ease of ensemble between all the musicians here. Woods and soprano Julia Bullock dovetail bewitchingly in André Previn’s ‘Shelter’, though the cellist has less of a role to play against Bullock’s declamations in Tania Léon’s ‘Oh Yemanja’.

George Walker’s 1957 Cello Sonata, however, is quite a discovery, convincingly melding Romantic indulgence and flinty modernism, brought alive by Woods’s deeply expressive playing. Likewise, his Rachmaninoff Cello Sonata is vivid and velvety. There’s a tendency for his pianists – Conor Hanick in the Walker and Andrew Rosenblum in the Rachmaninoff – to steal the limelight, partly thanks to the recorded balance and at times in terms of characterisation, which sometimes feels a little restrained on Woods’s part, particularly in the more energetic writing.

The disc nonetheless demonstrates Woods’s versatility and focus, and aside from the slight imbalance with the piano, it’s captured in rich, close sound.

David Kettle