Gabriel Schwabe (cello), ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Christopher Ward

Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85
Bridge: Oration - Concerto elegiaco for cello and orchestra

These two masterpieces are shadowed by the events of the First World War. Elgar’s Cello Concerto, an intensely poignant, reflective and individual musical statement, has enjoyed unflagging popularity among musicians and listeners for over 100 years. By contrast, Frank Bridge’s Oration (Concerto elegiaco) remained unperformed for decades after its early hearings. Yet it shares spiritual affinities with Elgar’s work and serves as a funeral address of huge solemnity and narrative power in its outcry against the futility of war.

"hugely impressive, full of finely realised detail, and lacking in bombast…Some may prefer the heart-on-sleeve approach of more celebrated recordings, but Schwabe makes his own quietly eloquent case for Elgar’s work, just as he is a superb advocate for Bridge’s. - The Guardian, 26th November 2021.