Johannes Moser - Elgar and Tchaikovsky

The Guardian 60

Moser/Orchestre de la Suisse Romande/Manze
(Pentatone)

The two major cello works paired up here by Johannes Moser deal with nostalgia in ways that are poles apart. It’s Tchaikovsky’s sunny Variations on a Rococo Theme that comes off best. Moser plays the composer’s original version, and sets off at a brisk trot – rococo is not going to be a byword for prissy. But the lightness is balanced by a gently yearning lyricism, and he shapes the minor-key variation into one long, seamless line. The playful exchanges between cello and orchestra in the next variation are beautifully handled; throughout, Andrew Manze and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande are supportive at every turn. They and Moser also do a lovely job of the three short Tchaikovsky pieces that fill up the disc. Elgar’s dark Cello Concerto brings a performance from Moser that is mercurial, imaginative and, unsurprisingly, more obviously heart-on-sleeve, but the finale feels too impulsive to knit the whole thing together.