Proms at … Cadogan Hall, PCM4 – Baroque Cello Concertos by Platti, Vivaldi & Boccherini – Edgar Moreau, Il Pomo d’Oro & Maxim Emelyanychev

Hasse
Adagio and Fugue in G-minor
Platti
Cello Concerto in D
Vivaldi
Cello Concerto in A-minor, RV419
Telemann
Divertimento in B-flat
Boccherini
Cello Concerto in D, G479

Edgar Moreau (cello)

Il Pomo d’Oro
Maxim Emelyanychev (harpsichord)


Reviewed by: Barnaby Page

Reviewed: 7 August, 2017
Venue: Cadogan Hall, London

Edgar MoreauPhotograph: Gregory FavreThe cello’s emergence from the ensemble into a solo role was the theme of Il Pomo d’Oro’s Proms programme. And so it was not surprising that Edgar Moreau shone most beautifully when he was alone for an encore, the ‘Sarabande’ from J. S. Bach’s C-major Suite (BWV 1009).

But there was much to relish in terms of performance, if perhaps not so much in purely musical interest: nervy energy in the first movement of the Platti; a plangent, almost nasal quality of tone from Moreau in the slow movement; moments of great lyricism appearing amid the punchy emphases of the Vivaldi; and some mellifluous slower passages there too.

Articulation of structure in the Telemann was impressive, and the six-member Il Pomo d’Oro also persuaded with its phrasing in the opening Hasse (the Fugue of which may be by Franz Xaver Richter). Throughout, the players’ timbre was gorgeous, although one did wish occasionally that it would be unleashed on music allowing wider scope for their, and Moreau’s, undoubted expressiveness.

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