Musica Viva & Alexander Rudin - Hasse, CPE Bach & Hertel: Cello Concertos (2022) [Hi-Res]

This album presents three rarely performed or heard early German cello concertos, played by Alexander Rudin. The multi-prize winning soloist is also a well-established conductor, in his native Russia as well as worldwide, fulfilling both roles in this recording, his first on Chandos.

He is joined by Musica Viva (the Moscow Chamber Orchestra), one of the most popular and loved chamber orchestras based in the Russian capital.

The cello concertos performed here are among the earliest by German composers. The works by Hertel and Bach show evidence of a characteristically North German sensitive, or even sentimental, style, while the four-movement concerto by Hasse has a more charming, galant texture.

"This is a fascinating programme, with two world premiere recordings – the Hertels – a rarity in the Hasse, and a moderately well-known one in the Bach... Musica Viva, also known as the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, is not a period instrument ensemble, but their performance is certainly historically informed, starting with 415 Hz tuning. These are very crisp, clean performances ..." (David Barker, MusicWeb-International)

“... the performances across the whole disc are all quiet stunners... the orchestra offer up an immaculate, gently assured, light-of-touch period sound ... Rudin, meanwhile, is refreshing for his unshowiness, his lyrical and more virtuoso passages equally, and the whole rich with subtly elegant, and the whole rich with subtly nuanced expression. A similar aesthetic has been applied to the balance, Rudin placed in front of the orchestra but not dramatically so. All in all, a recording I’ll be returning to.” (Charlotte Gardner, Gramophone magazine)

Alexander Rudin, cello & conductor
Musica Viva (Moscow Chamber Orchestra)