A fresh, illuminating take on a work written for Rostropovich
THE STRAD RECOMMENDS
The Strad Issue: June 2026
Description: A fresh, illuminating take on a work written for Rostropovich
Musicians: Jean-Guihen Queyras (cello) Luxembourg Philharmonic/Gustavo Gimeno
Works: Bloch: Schelomo. Lutosławski: Concerto for Orchestra; Cello Concerto
Catalogue number: HARMONIA MUNDI HMM902714
In the case of Witold Lutosławski’s 1970 Cello Concerto, it’s almost impossible to separate the music from its dedicatee and its context. The composer created it for Mstislav Rostropovich at a time when the cellist’s activities were coming under increasing scrutiny from Soviet authorities, and – despite Lutosławski denying it was ever his intent – the concerto’s music seems to portray an isolated soloist attempting to break free of mind-numbing strictures, only to be battered into submission by an aggressive orchestra.
It’s a context that makes Jean-Guihen Queyras’s nimble, delicate and sometimes touchingly vulnerable account all the more remarkable. In place of defiance and determination, he finds grace and playfulness amid Lutosławski’s fearsomely challenging solo part, only growing more desperate and assertive as the piece heads towards its violent conclusion. It’s a lithe, buoyant account that feels all the more moving for its boyish sincerity, and Queyras is given vivid, theatrical support by the Luxembourg Philharmonic under Gustavo Gimeno, captured in close, detailed sound.
Queyras seems like a different player entirely in a richly imagined, full-throated Bloch Schelomo, which he tackles with a rubato that at times almost derails any sense of pulse, and an inspiring sense of fantasy and rapture. It might play down the grit and power that other accounts find, but it’s shot through with real expressive intensity. A compelling, urgent Lutoslawski Concerto for Orchestra completes this often surprising but illuminating release.
DAVID KETTLE
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