Credits:

Vienna Philharmonic

Description:

Cellos of World War I" Canadian mid-career cellist Gary Hoffman's new release is a program of the Hebrew Rhapsody "Sheromo," written during World War I, and Elgar's Cello Concerto, written shortly after the war. It is also noteworthy that he is performing with Almink. ≪The "Shelomo" is a work that seems to reflect the painful circumstances of Bloch, who escaped from the devastation of mass murder in Europe and found himself in America as an exile, and closes with a complete denial. The "Cello Concerto" was Elgar's last work, written after the war, when he was exhausted both physically and emotionally. Elgar was 62 years old at the time. Looking back on his once highly successful violin concerto, he may have tried to ward off his misfortune by revisiting the concerto form. Hoffmann makes the cello sing on a large scale with a powerful co-star in Almink and a great orchestra. Hoffman studied with Starker. Starker had played Elgar's cello concerto under Barbirolli's direction, and Barbirolli had taught him in detail about the expression behind the work.Hoffman got his vision of this work from Starker. Hoffman also has extraordinary feelings about Bloch, having met Bloch's daughter himself. ＜Gary Hoffman, cello, was born in Canada, made his debut at the age of 15 at the Wigmore Hall, won the 1986 Rostropovich International Competition, has lived in Paris since 1990, and in 2011 became a professor at the prestigious Queen Elisabeth University of Music in Brussels. His instrument of choice is the 1662 Nicolas Amati, which belonged to Leonard Rose. King International