Product Review

It was in Shostakovichs First Cello Concerto that cellist Alisa Weilerstein prompted the Los Angeles Times to marvel: Weilersteins cello is her id... She and the cello seem simply to be one and the same.

Alisa returns with Shostakovichs cello masterworks Concertos 1 & 2.

Composed for the virtuosic cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, the coupling and contrasting of these two arresting works is irresistible: the anti-heroic, relentless, emotionally suppressed First Concerto set alongside the sarcasm and isolation of the Second.

Weilersteins interpretation is underpinned by her meeting Rostropovich a close friend of the composer when she was 22, playing Shostakovich for him and absorbing his advice and wisdom.

Her outstanding rapport with conductor Pablo Heras-Casado and the Symphonieorchester Bayerischen Rundfunks is evident in this new recording.