Raphael Wallfisch

Cello

Raphael Wallfisch was born in London in 1953 into a family of distinguished musicians, his mother the cellist Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, and his father the pianist Peter Wallfisch.

At an early age, Raphael was greatly inspired by hearing Zara Nelsova play, and, guided by a succession of fine teachers, including Amaryllis Fleming, Amadeo Baldovino, and Derek Simpson, it became apparent that the cello was to be his life's work.

While studying with the great Russian cellist Gregor Piatigorsky in California, he was chosen to perform chamber music with Jascha Heifetz in the informal recitals that Piatigorsky held at his home.

At the age of twenty-four he won the Gaspar Cassadó International Cello Competition in Florence. Since then he has enjoyed a world-wide career playing regularly with all the world's major orchestras.

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Shchedrin - Music for Cello & Piano

Shchedrin:

The ancient melodies of Russian folk-songs

Melodies from Rimsky-Korsakov’s anthology 100 Russian Folk Songs. Premiere Recording

Sonata for cello & piano

In Imitation of Albeniz

Nicht nur liebe (Not love alone)

Arranged by Grigory Singer

Raphael Wallfisch (cello) & Rodion Shchedrin (piano)

The Ancient Melodies of Russian Folk-songs (2007) is a setting for cello and piano of five melodies from Rimsky-Korsakov’s famous anthology of 100 Russian Folk Songs published in 1877. The Ancient Melodies of Russian Folk-songs is dedicated to Raphael Wallfisch, who premiered the cycle on 24 May 2007 in London with the composer at the piano and this is the premiere recording of this work.

Shchedrin wrote his Sonata for cello and piano in 1996 for his great friend Mstislav Rostropovich, who had already been the dedicatee of his Cello Concerto ‘Sotto Voce’ of 1994 and would later have the Parabola Concertante for cello, strings and timpani (2001 – recorded on Nimbus NI5816) written for him. There are three movements which in their character and disposition are reminiscent of the late string works of Shostakovich.

In the Style of Albeniz is a short early piece written in 1952 when he was twenty. One of Shchedrin’s bestknown short pieces, it was originally composed for piano solo and incorporated in his set of 10 Piano Pieces which are widely used as teaching material.

The Quadrille, one of its best-known numbers, was arranged for cello and piano by Grigory Singer. Opening with an ardent, romantic cello solo, the piece opens up into a virtuosically- presented parade of folklike tunes over repeated ostinato rhythms which both seem to satirize Russian sentimentality and display how much Shchedrin owed to the music of Stravinsky in his early period.

Nimbus - NI5831

(CD)

$17.49

In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day.

William Busch - Cello & Piano Concerto

Busch, W:

Cello Concerto (1940/1)

Raphael Wallfisch (cello)

Piano Concerto (1937/8)

Piers Lane (piano)

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Vernon Handley

"My first impression of William Busch the composer was of sinewy toughness, the piece I heard at Morley College in wartime was his NicholasVariations for piano (1942) named after his infant son - his likeness was not mirrored in the craggy, spare music.The next music I heard of Busch’s counterbalanced this first impression - songs that were gentle and tender although the music was still sinewy and avoiding rich harmony, settings with the voice and words predominant, with easy intervals for the listener to grasp the sense of the music ..." John Amis

“The Cello Concerto… proves a beautifully wrought, enviably terse yet warm-hearted score, its modal lyricism and appealingly ruminative manner strikingly prescient of Finzi's gorgeous Cello Concerto… the Piano Concerto wears a knottier, more harmonically adventurous demeanour... its meaty opening Allegro and finale (a resourceful theme and 32 variations) framing a bittersweet central Allegretto tranquillo. As one might expect from the calibre of the artists involved, the performances are all one could wish for.” Gramophone Magazine, February 2008

Lyrita - SRCD320

(CD)

$17.49

In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day.