British cellist Steven Isserlis is featured in this premiere recording of two works for cello by John Tavener, The Protecting Veil, for cello and strings, and Thrinos, for solo cello, as well as in Britten's Cello Suite No. 3, Op. 87. The Protecting Veil is essentially a concerto in which the cello almost continuously plays, although it differs from a traditional concerto, in which the opposition between the orchestra and the soloist heightens the musical drama. In this case, conflict and drama are minimized; the solo cello is a serene, meditative voice, sometimes floating, sometimes soaring over the entirely supportive accompaniment of the orchestra. While it is idiomatically far removed from the works of Messiaen, its sense of ecstasy lost in timelessness and its supreme indifference to western conventions of musical development, reveal Tavener to be a spiritual cousin of the French mystic's.
Britten's three Cello Suites are arguably the most significant contribution to the literature for solo cello since Bach's, and in these works, Britten's relation to Bach is clearly audible. Britten had obviously absorbed the conventions of Bach's writing for a solo string instrument, and they underlie his thoroughly modern compositional techniques. The third suite is deeply expressive, passionate, and personal. For its thematic material, it draws on three Russian folk songs arranged by Tchaikovsky, as a tribute to Mstislav Rostropovich, for whom it (and all of Britten's music for cello) was written, as well as to Shostakovich, whom Britten revered.
Steven Isserlis (for whom the Tavener pieces were written) gives impassioned readings of each of the works. His playing of the opening of The Protecting Veil is achingly, almost painfully poignant. He negotiates the treacherously high tessitura with unfailingly full, pure tone and with flawless intonation. The Protecting Veil is superbly accompanied by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky. The Britten requires comparable virtuosity, as well as the ability to shape the 11 diverse movements into an architecturally unified whole, and Isserlis' interpretation is technically secure and emotionally satisfying. Virgin's sound is clean and atmospheric.
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