Reviews by 20thCenturyCello
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This reviewers rating 
A superb piece for oboe, in the best mode of pure cinematic Romance. Works very well on other instruments too, not least on cello (as Yo-Yo Ma has shown us).
This reviewers rating 
A beautiful single movement cello piece. It is composed in neoromantic style, but has fresh harmonies and a thoroughly idiomatic lyricism. It is an adaptation from a violin piece, so there are some rather tricky passages - not for the faint hearted.
Works even more effectively in the version for cello and orchestra, in which case this score can be used as a reduction of the orchestral part for rehearsal (but it also works well as a recital piece).
This reviewers rating 
Wonderful pieces that rank among the finest ever written for solo cello. Dutilleux use of instrumental colouring is masterful and shows consummate understanding of the cello's expressive and technical potential.
The pieces push the limits of virtuosity, but are well worth the effort. Scordatura is used tuning the C string down a tone to B flat and the G string down a semitone to F sharp.
This reviewers rating 
This is a suberb work and easily as good as the his famous first Cello Concerto. I for one prefer it - as Rostopovich himself said, it's profundity is second to none!
It opens with a haunting and beautiful Adagio that, at its climax, tears at the soul. The short second movement, an exciting Scherzo, moves seamlessly by means of a Cello Cadenza to the Finale, which contains many dramatic and lyrical episodes, beautiful and powerful.
This reviewers rating 
A wonderful and highly underrated score, the Capricorn concerto is the younger sibling of Barber's three established concerto masterpieces. It is a neoclassical work, unique in Barber's output, but consistently fresh and is by turns ravishingly beautiful and brilliantly exciting.
The scoring is (intentionally) the same as that of Bach's second Brandenburg concerto, so would make an ideal concert coupling.