Gramophone Magazine
November 2024
Editor's Choice

Presto Recordings of the Year
Finalists 2024

Gautier Capuçon (cello), London Symphony Orchestra, Antonio Pappano

Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85
Walton: Cello Concerto

“For me, the Elgar Cello Concerto is about passion,” says Gautier Capuçon, who has now recorded the work with the London Symphony Orchestra – which played at the concerto’s premiere in 1919 – and its new Music Director, Antonio Pappano. The companion piece for the Elgar is William Walton’s cello concerto, premiered nearly 40 years later in 1957.

“The Elgar is the quintessence of deep emotions, and the cello is exactly the right instrument to transmit them,” continues Capuçon. “The Walton Cello Concerto is absolutely gorgeous, a magical piece … It’s very challenging, very difficult. There are the two cadenzas, which are very demanding on the cellist, and like the Elgar, structurally, the second movement is an extremely virtuosic dialogue with the orchestra.”

As Antonio Pappano explains, “This is not the first time the Elgar, which is a very strong, dark piece, has been paired with the Walton, and it’s a wonderful coupling. Walton uses a richer harmonic palette, a more diverse orchestra, more colourful forces: vibraphone, celesta, harp. The music twinkles and has the mystery of the night about it. But it sings. It sings the way Elgar’s concerto sings … I believe English music really has a lot to say if it’s done with full-on intensity and drama, and the London Symphony Orchestra can produce that like no other.”

"A dream team in the making, I suspect. Capuçon and Pappano may be collaborating here for the first time but it’s a meeting of musical minds and sensibilities for sure." - Gramophone Magazine, November 2024