Dvorak / Herbert: Cello Concertos

"An unusual but attractive coupling of two concertos composed in America. Gautier Capuçon would be in danger of being typecast as just "one of the Capuçon brothers" (whose recording of Brahms's Double Concerto last year was so fascinating) if he weren't so darn good. Happily, the solo projects keep coming alongside the sibling acts: the result here is a dazzling Dvorák Concerto with a little-known and most entertaining coupling."
Gramophone Magazine: Editor's Choice - April 2009

"Gautier Capuçon's account of the Herbert that makes the bigger impression. He captures the work's rhapsodic ambitions and the lyrical charm of its slow movement perfectly, whereas his reading of the Dvorák seems a bit withdrawn and underpowered. Anyone wanting a definitive recording of the Dvorák has plenty to choose from elsewhere, but for the Herbert this version just about has it all." The Guardian, 6th February 2009 ***

"Gautier Capuçon gives a richly lyrical and sympathetic account of Herbert's Concerto, reaching heights of eloquence in its beguiling slow movement and revelling in the virtuosity of the latter parts of the finale." BBC Music Magazine, March 2009 ****

For his second solo recording, after his critically acclaimed recording of Haydn's Cello Concertos (which inaugurated his exclusive recording contract with VC in 2003), Gautier Capuçon tackles Dvorak's masterpiece for cello (his only cello concerto), and couples it with that of an unfortunately under-reputed composer of the era. Gautier Capuçon is accompanied by Paavo Järvi who directs the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, to which Paavo Järvi has is music director since September 06. Dvořák wrote the concerto while in New York for his third term as the Director of the National Conservatory after having listened to Victor Herbert's (a fellow teacher at the Conservatory) second cello concerto in 1894. Up till then Dvořák had always refused, stating that the cello was a fine orchestral instrument but totally insufficient for a solo concerto. Victor August Herbert (February 1, 1859 - May 26, 1924) was a cellist, conductor and composer of light opera. His Cello Concerto is a new asset to Virgin Classics' catalogue.