‘CELEBRATING MSTISLAV ROSTROPOVICH’S 75th BIRTHDAY.’ John Williams: for Seiji! (1999) ~~ Eric Tanguy: Cello Concerto #2 (2000) ~~ Dvorak: Cello Concerto. Mstislav Rostropovich, cello soloist; Seiji Ozawa/ Boston Symphony Orch. Symphony Hall, Boston, MA. April 4-6th.
One
sometimes encounters senior citizen virtuosi trotting themselves out on stage
to give performances that reveal them to be well below their prime—but
fortunately, that is not the case with every old-timer. It is a pleasure to
report here that the great cellist Mstislav Rostropovich appears to have lost
very little indeed off his proverbial fast ball, even at the advanced age of
75. His appearance at the April 6th Boston Symphony concert, one
of the few remaining such events to be led by outgoing music director Seiji
Ozawa, was a triumph.
Rostropovich has had a long history of championing new works for his instrument in addition to presenting standard repertoire. Eric Tanguy’s Cello Concerto No. 2 (2000) is the latest in a long line of such recent compositions. One can understand those aspects of it that might appeal to a world-class cellist: the soloist’s line is a busy one kept very much to the fore, challenging to play yet containing a certain level of aural appeal. And the harmonic language employed is essentially a tonal one, though dissonant enough in certain ways so as not to seem anachronistic. Your reviewer found the piece lacking in other ways, however. The cello part, while idiomatically written for the instrument, seems stuck in an expressively lyric rut that palls after three movements (the finale bringing a long overdue dose of zippy energy to the proceedings). <>
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