Steven Isserlis & Connie Shih – The Cello in Wartime (2017) [FLAC 24bit/88,2kHz]

Steven Isserlis & Connie Shih – The Cello in Wartime (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 01:05:29 minutes | 1,11 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Bookelt, Front Cover | © BIS

The chief novelty of this release by cellist Steven Isserlis is the “trench cello” of British soldier Harold Triggs, not just a cello that was taken into the trenches, but a portable instrument that could be disassembled and packed into a box. Isserlis plays the actual instrument, lost to Triggs when he was captured by the Germans, but reunited with him in 1962 near the end of his life. There’s nothing so extraordinary about its sound, although it’s quite good all things considered, but hearing the appropriate pieces selected by Isserlis, including God Save the King and Ivor Novello’s Keep the Home Fires Burning, is undeniably haunting. (The cello on the album’s front cover is not the Triggs item, but a different homemade cello of the period.) The other works, played on Isserlis’ usual instrument, are only tangentially connected to the War, but the cello’s melancholic voice seems somehow evocative, and the defiantly French style of the Debussy Cello Sonata fits the mood. It’s also worth being reminded that the careers of Fauré and Webern overlapped. Taken in totality, the album conveys the sweep of music at the time of World War I, and that’s no small accomplishment.

Tracklist:
1. Cello Sonata in D Minor, L. 135: I. Prologue (04:12)
2. Cello Sonata in D Minor, L. 135: II. Serenade (02:58)
3. Cello Sonata in D Minor, L. 135: III. Finale (03:31)
4. Cello Sonata, H.125: I. Allegro ben moderato (10:42)
5. Cello Sonata, H.125: II. Adagio ma non troppo – Molto allegro e agitato (12:39)
6. Cello Sonata No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 109: I. Allegro (05:31)
7. Cello Sonata No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 109: II. Andante (07:05)
8. Cello Sonata No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 109: III. Finale. Allegro comodo (06:06)
9. 3 Kleine Stücke, Op. 11: No. 1, Mäßige Achtel (01:03)
10. 3 Kleine Stücke, Op. 11: No. 2, Sehr bewegt (00:22)
11. 3 Kleine Stücke, Op. 11: No. 3, Äußerst ruhig (01:38)
12. Carnival of the Animals, R. 125: XIII. Le cygne (Version for Cello & Piano) (03:42)
13. Jerusalem (Arr. for Cello & Piano) (02:21)
14. Keep the Home Fires Burning (Arr. for Cello & Piano) (02:10)
15. God Save the King (Arr. for Cello & Piano) (01:29)

Download:

mqs.link_StevenIsserlisC0nnieShihTheCell0inWartime201724882.part1.rar
mqs.link_StevenIsserlisC0nnieShihTheCell0inWartime201724882.part2.rar