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The chief novelty of this release by cellist Steven Isserlis is the "trench cello" of British soldier Harold Triggs, not just a cello that was taken into the trenches, but a portable instrument that could be disassembled and packed into a box. Isserlis plays the actual instrument, lost to Triggs when he was captured by the Germans, but reunited with him in 1962 near the end of his life. There's nothing so extraordinary about its sound, although it's quite good all things considered, but hearing the appropriate pieces selected by Isserlis, including God Save the King and Ivor Novello's Keep the Home Fires Burning, is undeniably haunting. (The cello on the album's front cover is not the Triggs item, but a different homemade cello of the period.) The other works, played on Isserlis' usual instrument, are only tangentially connected to the War, but the cello's melancholic voice seems somehow evocative, and the defiantly French style of the Debussy Cello Sonata fits the mood. It's also worth being reminded that the careers of Fauré and Webern overlapped. Taken in totality, the album conveys the sweep of music at the time of World War I, and that's no small accomplishment.
© TiVo
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Cello Sonata in D Minor, L. 135 (Claude Debussy)
Claude Debussy, Composer - Steven Isserlis, Artist, MainArtist - Connie Shih, Artist
(C) 2017 BIS (P) 2017 BIS
Claude Debussy, Composer - Steven Isserlis, Artist, MainArtist - Connie Shih, Artist
(C) 2017 BIS (P) 2017 BIS
Claude Debussy, Composer - Steven Isserlis, Artist, MainArtist - Connie Shih, Artist
(C) 2017 BIS (P) 2017 BIS
Cello Sonata (Frank Bridge)
Steven Isserlis, Artist, MainArtist - Frank Bridge, Composer - Connie Shih, Artist
(C) 2017 BIS (P) 2017 BIS
Steven Isserlis, Artist, MainArtist - Frank Bridge, Composer - Connie Shih, Artist
(C) 2017 BIS (P) 2017 BIS
Cello Sonata No. 1 in D minor, Op. 109 (Gabriel Fauré)
Gabriel Fauré, Composer - Steven Isserlis, Artist, MainArtist - Connie Shih, Artist
(C) 2017 BIS (P) 2017 BIS
Gabriel Fauré, Composer - Steven Isserlis, Artist, MainArtist - Connie Shih, Artist
(C) 2017 BIS (P) 2017 BIS
Gabriel Fauré, Composer - Steven Isserlis, Artist, MainArtist - Connie Shih, Artist
(C) 2017 BIS (P) 2017 BIS
3 Kleine Stücke, Op. 11 (Anton Webern)
Anton Webern, Composer - Steven Isserlis, Artist, MainArtist - Connie Shih, Artist
(C) 2017 BIS (P) 2017 BIS
Anton Webern, Composer - Steven Isserlis, Artist, MainArtist - Connie Shih, Artist
(C) 2017 BIS (P) 2017 BIS
Anton Webern, Composer - Steven Isserlis, Artist, MainArtist - Connie Shih, Artist
(C) 2017 BIS (P) 2017 BIS
Carnival of the Animals, R. 125 (Camille Saint-Saëns)
CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS, Composer - Steven Isserlis, Artist, MainArtist - Connie Shih, Artist
(C) 2017 BIS (P) 2017 BIS
Jerusalem (arr. for cello and piano) (Anonyme)
Anonymous, Composer - Hubert Parry, Composer - Steven Isserlis, Artist, MainArtist - Connie Shih, Artist
(C) 2017 BIS (P) 2017 BIS
Keep the Home Fires Burning (arr. for cello and piano) (Anonyme)
Anonymous, Composer - Steven Isserlis, Artist, MainArtist - Ivor Novello, Composer - Connie Shih, Artist
(C) 2017 BIS (P) 2017 BIS
God Save the King (arr. for cello and piano) (Anonyme)
Traditional, Composer - Anonymous, Composer - Steven Isserlis, Artist, MainArtist - Connie Shih, Artist
(C) 2017 BIS (P) 2017 BIS
Album Description
The chief novelty of this release by cellist Steven Isserlis is the "trench cello" of British soldier Harold Triggs, not just a cello that was taken into the trenches, but a portable instrument that could be disassembled and packed into a box. Isserlis plays the actual instrument, lost to Triggs when he was captured by the Germans, but reunited with him in 1962 near the end of his life. There's nothing so extraordinary about its sound, although it's quite good all things considered, but hearing the appropriate pieces selected by Isserlis, including God Save the King and Ivor Novello's Keep the Home Fires Burning, is undeniably haunting. (The cello on the album's front cover is not the Triggs item, but a different homemade cello of the period.) The other works, played on Isserlis' usual instrument, are only tangentially connected to the War, but the cello's melancholic voice seems somehow evocative, and the defiantly French style of the Debussy Cello Sonata fits the mood. It's also worth being reminded that the careers of Fauré and Webern overlapped. Taken in totality, the album conveys the sweep of music at the time of World War I, and that's no small accomplishment.
© TiVo
About the album
- 1 disc(s) - 15 track(s)
- Total length: 01:05:29
- Main artist: Steven Isserlis
- Composer: Various Composers
- Label: BIS
- Genre: Classical
-
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo
(C) 2017 BIS (P) 2017 BIS
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