Christine Walevska (cello)
The Beauty and the Bow – Private Archive Recordings
rec. 1958-2014
Rhine Classics RH-034 [8 CDs: 528]
Three notable female cellists were born in 1945: Jacquline du Pré, Anja Thauer and Christine Walevska. Du Pré has long since entered folklore, Thauer killed herself in 1973, the same year that multiple sclerosis ended du Pré’s career, and Walevska’s international profile seemed to falter despite a clutch of fine Philips LPs released in the first half of the 70s. However, as this set reminds us, she continued to perform worldwide and has given her imprimatur to this 8-CD release.
The American cellist studied with Maurice Maréchal in Paris and later Piatigorsky, but she credited Ennio Bolognini as her strongest influence. The broadcasts, rare LPs and other material in this box reveal a formidably equipped performer across the span of the repertoire. In those Philips discs she was paired with conductors Eliahu Inbal, Alexander Gibson, Edo de Waart and Kurt Redel for a tranche of concerto recordings, and there are a few examples of repertoire duplication – the Dvořák concerto and Schelomo for instance – but very little else.
There are three Bach Cello Suites in the first disc. Her dynamics are deft and the playing is assured, with tempi somewhat on the stately side. In her 1966 Washington DC recital she jettisons repeats in the Allemande and Courante of the Second Suite but there’s more acoustic in this concert than there is in the home-taped Suite 3 and the concert taping of No.1, which date from 1958 when she was 23. These are the earliest examples of her playing in this set and revealing of her serious-minded musicianship. CD 1 also contains an excellent performance of Pierre Sancan’s test piece Sonata of 1961. She catches precisely its taut, sullen but finally cheerful qualities. Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations are heard with the piano accompaniment of Robert Parris – lyrically impressive and dextrous. There’s also the first exposure of her playing of Bolognini’s Serenata del Gaucho (there are four altogether throughout the box), a spicy pizzicato-and-legato study played with tremendous brio. Pièce en forme de habanera is here too and was one of Maréchal’s favourite encore pieces.
In the second disc she plays Piatigorsky’s arrangement of Haydn’s Divertimento in D major with Miguel Zanetti (intonation in the tricky fast finale is spot-on) – there’s a second version in CD 3 with Robert Parris – and turns in an evocative reading of Nin’s Chants d’Espagne with a full complement of Iberian flavour and flamenco sketches – slight tape flutter too. Saint-Saëns’ Concerto No. 1 was part of her Philips legacy with Inbal – her recording of No.2 was a world première on disc – but here she plays it with Julio Malaval and the Santiago Orchestra in 1966, during one of her many visits to South America. Her control of its warmth, near-whimsy and zest are apparent. Jean Françaix’s Fantaisie, here with pianist Martin Imaz, was one of the few pieces that Thauer recorded commercially, with the composer at the keyboard. Walevska takes a little more time than Thauer but one can still appreciate her highly expressive playing in the Elégie and her insouciance in the finale. Imaz plays well too and the only limitation is the nature of the recording – it sounds like a cassette. Bloch’s Nigun is heard in Joseph Schuster’s arrangement in the most recent performance, a passionate Montreal studio recording made in 2014.
CD 3 is an Original Jacket LP remastering, called ‘Concêrto de Violoncelo’ (its cover named her ‘Walewska’) that contains Couperin’s Pièces en Concert arranged by Paul Bazelaire, another Haydyn Divertimento, and Prokofiev’s Cello Sonata in C major. There’s a little inherent distortion in the LP, and some turntable rumble but her tonal qualities in the Couperin must reflect Marechal’s influence – rich and broad, though not quite with his ‘woody’ sound. If she studied the Prokofiev with Piatigorsky, and if she heard his 1953 RCA recording, she shows signs of decided independence of musical mind, playing it utterly differently. In her exploration of the jocular central movement and the confident finale, she is more aligned with Rostropovich.
CD 4 was recorded in Walevska’s home for an Owl Records LP release with pianist Bruce Gaston. I don’t know how many copies were released or how much distribution it had, but it’s good to find it here not least for the superb Debussy Sonata recording in which one feels – with its rapidity of expressive states, fantasy elements, sang froid of the pizzicati and fiery finale – a direct lineage straight back to Maréchal, who made an unequalled recording of it with Casadesus. There’s another Bolognini piece, Serenata del Echo with echo effects, flamenco pizzicati and a strong sense of character – very appropriate for Bolognini, who was a force of nature as well as a first-class cellist. His Serenata del Gaucho is heard again here, in good sound. Chopin’s Introduction and Polonaise brillante in Fournier’s arrangement shows her marked gift for cantilena and virtuosity without affectation.
The bulk of the fifth disc comes from a 1968 Brussels broadcast called ‘Les Grands Interprètes’ devoted to Walevska. She reprises favoured pieces – a Bach Sarabande, her two Bolognini showpieces, joins with front desk players in the RTB Orchestra for a sonorous slow movement from Brahms’ Sextet No.1, and plays the first two movements of the Dvořák Concerto – the finale was seemingly not performed. There are also interviews in French with her and it seems as if she was soloist in Don Quixote but that’s not here. The orchestra doesn’t cover itself in too much glory and has a very wobbly first horn and a fragile first flute. Walevska employs some discreet portamenti and the conception is rather chamber-orientated. There’s also a lovely trio arrangement, recorded in stereo c.1982, of Piazzolla’s Adiós Nonino with two good colleagues, tango master and violinist Antonio Agri and pianist Manuel Rego.
If you’re into William Schuman, you’ll have a copy of Leonard Rose and George Szell’s première recording of ‘A Song of Orpheus’ made in January 1964. Walevska gave the West Coast premiere in Los Angeles in October that year. The work had actually been premiered by Rose, its dedicatee, and Solomon Izler in Indianapolis in 1962. The performance is conducted by ex-violinist Henri Temianka and Walewska sings her song (the work is based on Schuman’s setting of ‘Orpheus with his Lute’) with rapt beauty. A photograph is reprinted in the booklet showing Schuman laughing with Walevska after the performance, the California Chamber Symphony looking on admiringly. This CD also contains Hindemith’s Cello Concerto with Dean Dixon and the orchestra of Hessischen Rundfunks in December 1967 in good stereo. Hindemith had stringent views as to how this music went as his performances with Piatigorsky and Aldo Parisot, made nearly twenty years apart, demonstrate. Walevska and Dixon have their own ideas, however, and it’s revealing to hear the greater tempo relaxation in the second and third movements – the finale in particular, which imparts a different character to its March. Two years later she recorded Schelomo in Hamburg with Schmidt-Isserstedt in mono. Finely though she plays, it’s not going to efface memories of Feuermann, Rose, Piatigorsky or Nelsova in this work. Incidentally, this is a work she discusses in considerable detail in her interview in Book 5 of the series ‘The Way They Play’.
CD 7 contains Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with Henryk Szeryng, pianist Monique Duphil and the Venezuelan Symphony conducted by Pedro Antonio Ríos-Reyna in Caracas in June 1970. It’s in stereo. I’m assuming it was something of a trial run for Szeryng’s recording a few months later with Starker, Arrau and Inbal but his partners in Caracas make it a more incisive reading with a decidedly more athletic Largo – more an Andante here – than the commercial recording. The other work is Dvořák’s Concerto, heard complete this time, with the Orchestre national de France directed by Carlos Paita in 1976. The orchestra is immeasurably better than the one in Brussels eight years earlier. Walevska plays eloquently throughout and one can hear why Josef Suk was so attracted to her playing and invited her to perform in Prague.
The last disc dates from 2010 and was released on JXCC-1069, a CD called ‘Christine Walevska Violoncello Recital’. It was taped in Ishibashi Memorial Hall, Tokyo with young Japanese pianist Akimi Fukuhara, so is, in effect, an Original Jacket CD release – the original cover is reproduced in the booklet. Along with her devotion to Bolognini and to Piazzolla, courtesy of her many tours to Latin America, there are two important sonata recordings. The recording of the Brahms First Sonata tends to emphasise the ‘plink’ of the piano’s treble and the cello’s chewier tone but the playing is resonant, powerful and the fugal playing in the finale is especially fine. Chopin’s Sonata also draws from both women plenty of expressive commitment. A small footnote: Bolognini’s Serenata del Echo wasn’t released in the original CD but appears here courtesy of Walevska.
The booklet contains rather orotund notes from Gary Lemco but there are plenty of booklet photographs that catch her in concert (the Triple Concerto for one), making a documentary film, the cellist perched precariously next to the sea, called ‘Cellist Extraordinary’ in 1967, and with Bolognini – he is outrageously dressed in zebra skin underwear – and being embraced by Artur Rubinstein. There are many others. The variety of repertoire and accompanying orchestras and accompanists shows that she managed to sustain a strong career over the years and the performances reflect a broadly French-Russian inheritance, subtly deployed. This is a fine box that brings Walevska to renewed notice.
Jonathan Woolf
Availability: Rhine Classics
Contents
CD1 | 79:44
BACH Cello Suite No.1 | Los Angeles, 1958
BACH Cello Suite No.2 | Washington DC, 1966
BACH Cello Suite No.3 | San José, 1958
BACH Cello Suite No.6: I. Prelude | Los Angeles, 1960
SANCAN Sonata for Cello and Piano (1961)
TCHAIKOVSKY Rococo Variations Op.33
BOLOGNINI Serenata del Gaucho
RAVEL Pièce en forme de habanera
Robert Parris | Washington DC, 14.IV.1966
CD2 | 76:53
HAYDN Divertimento (arr. Piatigorsky)
NIN Chants d’Espagne
Miguel Zanetti | RNE Madrid, 1964
SAINT-SAËNS Cello Concerto No.1 Op.33
Julio Malaval, OTM | Santiago del Chile, 5.V.1966
FRANÇAIX Fantaisie for Cello and Piano (1935)
GINASTERA Pampeana No.2 Op.21
Martin Imaz | Fukui, 22.X.1974
BLOCH Nigun
Akimi Fukuhara | Montreal, VI.2014
CD3 | 40:58
COUPERIN Pièces en Concert (arr. Bazelaire)
HAYDN Divertimento (arr. Piatigorsky)
PROKOFIEV Cello Sonata in C major Op.119
Robert Parris | Rio de Janeiro, 1966
original LP 33 rpm: ASC-1.010 ℗1966
CD4 | 40:31
DEBUSSY Cello Sonata in D minor
BOLOGNINI Echo Serenade | Gaucho Serenade
RAVEL Pièce en forme de habanera
WEBER Adagio and Rondò (arr. Piatigorsky)
CHOPIN Nocturne No.20 (arr. Piatigorsky)
CHOPIN Polonaise Brillante Op.3 (arr. Fournier)
Bruce Gaston | Los Angeles, 1967é
original LP 33 rpm: Owl Records ORLP-14 ℗1967
CD5 | 73:38
BRAHMS String Sextet No.1 Op.18: II. Theme and Variations
BACH Cello Suite No.2: IV. Sarabande
BOLOGNINI Serenata del Echo | Serenata del Gaucho
DVORAK Cello Concerto Op.104: I. + II.
+ interview by André Vandernoot,
Grand Orchestre Symphonique de la RTB | Bruxelles, 19.III.1968
POPPER Spinning Song Op.55/1
Harold Martina | Bogotà, 8.VIII.1973
PIAZZOLLA Adiós Nonino -Trio version- (arr. Bragato)
Manuel Rego, Antonio Agri | Buenos-Aires, 1982
CD6 | 70:37
SCHUMAN “A Song of Orpheus” Fantasy for Cello and Orchestra
Henri Temianka, CSS | Los Angeles, 4.X.1964
HINDEMITH Cello Concerto (1940)
Dean Dixon, HR SO | Frankfurt, 29.XII.1967
BLOCH “Schelomo” Rhapsodie Hébraïque
Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt, NDR | Hamburg, 17.XI.1969
CD7 | 74:51
BEETHOVEN Triple Concerto in C major Op.56
Henryk Szeryng, violin | Monique Duphil, piano
Pedro Antonio Ríos-Reyna, OSV | Caracas, 21.VI. 1970
DVORAK Cello Concerto in B minor Op.104
Carlos Paita, ONF | Paris, 24.XI.1976
CD8 | 71:39
BACH Arioso in G (Cantata BWV 156)
BRAHMS Cello Sonata No.1 in E minor Op.38
BOLOGNINI Cello’s Prayer | Serenata del Echo
PIAZZOLLA Adiós Nonino -Duo version- (arr. Bragato)
CHOPIN Cello Sonata in G minor Op.65
Akimi Fukuhara | Tokyo, 10.VI.2010
