Cello Concerto / Cello Sonata / Chants russes for cello and piano

"Miss Kligel copes with the turgid first movement about as well as any cellist I've seen heard tackle it... Kliegel and Halasz generate a lot of sound and fury and charge through the desiccated, sometimes disjointed bits with a great deal of purpose and drive. II is a combination slow movement and scherzo, considerably more ingratiating than I, and here Kliegel's playing is alternately flowing and lyrical, crisp and playful. She approaches III as a showy, blazing, bravura romp-which indeed it is."
- American Record Guide (Lawrence Hansen), Nov / Dec, 2000

"Although seldom heard in concerts these days, Lalo's Concerto is one of the great works of the cello repertoire. Its neglect is all the more incomprehensible when you listen to such a towering performance as the one given here by Maria Kliegel with the Hungarian-based Nicolaus Esterhazy Sinfonia.

As her impressive and wide-ranging Naxos discography shows, Kliegel is a versatile artist; and her rich tone, subtle shadings of colour and passionate involvement with the music are applied to Lalo's virtuoso writing with both vigour and sensitivity.

"Lalo was a cellist, and knew how to get the best out of the instrument. The Romantic drive of the outer movements, together with the poetic lyricism of the Intermezzo, explore both the athletic and contemplative characteristics of the cello, which Kliegel invests with spirit and ardour.

"The performance of the Cello Concerto is so gripping that it would be worth having on its own. But the equally impassioned Cello Sonata and the heartfelt Chants russes are a glorious bonus.
- The Daily Telegraph (Geoffrey Norris), August 12, 2000

"Edouard Lalo's early training as a cellist reveals itself throughout his two principal works for the instrument. The Sonata is all but unplayed and rarely recorded, while the D minor concerto has long earned its rightful place in the repertoire. In the concerto, the solo instrument's registral extremes are gainfully exploited in the outer movements, with sweeping rhetorical passages set off by gutsy orchestral punctuations. ...

"Cellist Maria Kliegel brings selfless flair and expressive economy to [the Concerto and] throws herself into [the Sonata's] three impassioned movements and revels in the music's volatile moods while tossing off Lalo's high-register hurdles without a trace of strain. Lalo transcribed the lovely Chants russes from the second movement of his Concerto Russe for violin, which makes an eloquent encore. Bernd Glemser's exemplary keyboard work transcends mere accompaniment. It's good to have Lalo's cello music all together on one disc, and who can resist Naxos' budget price?"
- Classics Today (Jed Distler), July 15, 2000

Edouard Lalo was already fifty-one when his Violin Concerto brought him the first taste of success as a composer. Over the next eighteen years a series of outstanding works, including the opera, Le roi d'Ys, together with the Symphonie espagnole and a fine Cello Concerto, established him as one of the major French composers in the late 19th century. Having studied the cello as a young man, Lalo had a deep understanding of the tonal qualities of the instrument, and produced a concerto that combines the yearning intensity of the central Intermezzo, with brilliant virtuosity in the outer movements. The Cello Sonata, which remained unpublished during his lifetime, was composed in 1856, and is essentially a lyrical score.