Jean-Pierre Duport: Concertos Pour Violoncelle – Raphael Pidoux

   in Classical Music (Mar, 2019)
This is fabulous music. Rafaël Pidoux plays on a 1680 Giofredo Cappa instrument, while the Nantes-based Stradivaria also uses authentic instruments for this classical, sometimes proto-romantic, eminently gallant music. Jean-Louis Duport (1749-1819) is the younger brother of Jean-Pierre Duport (on one of whose themes Mozart wrote a famous set of variations). Jean-Louis penned six cello concertos in total; Peter Hörr on Dabringhaus offers Nos 4-6 therefore overlapping two concertos. Both Hörr and Pidoux are fine cellists, but Pidoux’ freshness, particularly in soloist/ woodwind exchanges, is captivating.

The fourth concerto, heard first, sets the scene with its myriad technical challenges for the soloist; the finale is cripplingly hard up top, you can …