Raphael Wallfisch - Goldschmidt & Reizenstein: Cello Concertos (2018)

Tracklist
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01. Cello Concerto, Op. 8: I. Allegro ma non troppo
02. Cello Concerto, Op. 8: II. Lento
03. Cello Concerto, Op. 8: III. Molto moderato
04. Cello Concerto: I. Andante
05. Cello Concerto: II. Caprice mélancolique
06. Cello Concerto: III. Quasi sarabande
07. Cello Concerto: IV. Tarantella

In Berlin the composers Berthold Goldschmidt and Franz Reizenstein developed into products of the anti-romantic 'new realism'. However, both distanced themselves from this dry objectivity and sought more powerful means of expression while avoiding the late romantic excesses that at the time continued to predominate in Germany. The surprising fact is that neither Reizenstein nor Goldschmidt felt drawn to Schonberg's method of twelve-tone composition. Already in 1934 and 1935 both composers fled from Berlin to England, that is, prior to the tightening of immigration requirements. Influences from Reizenstein's teachers Paul Hindemith and Ralph Vaughan Williams are audible in the rather harsh, expressionistic character of his concerto. Raphael Wallfisch writes of this work, 'Reizenstein's Cello Concerto is a tour de force for the cellist. What is involved here is an epic and heroic statement in which lyrical and dramatic elements alternate.'