Elgar & Walton: Cello Concertos

Like many cellists, Gautier Capuçon remembers first hearing Jacqueline du Pré’s legendary 1965 recording of the Elgar Cello Concerto. “This was my first encounter with the piece,” he tells Apple Music Classical; “I was very young, maybe seven or eight years old, and I was, as you say in French, bouleversé. I was moved to tears by the lyricism, by the drama. What came from Jacqueline du Pré, and what came from the Elgar, I have no idea—it was probably a combination of both. But immediately I wanted to play it.”

Having matured and developed his interpretation over several decades, Capuçon is particularly pleased to have finally recorded the Concerto with the London Symphony Orchestra, an ensemble closely associated with Jacqueline du Pré’s recording, but also long associated with Elgar’s music since the 1920s and ’30s when the great man recorded virtually all his orchestral works with the LSO. And Capuçon has long admired the musicianship of their chief conductor, Antonio (“Tony”) Pappano. “We have known each other since probably 20 years,” says the cellist; “I admire him so much as a musician, as a conductor, as a pianist. From the first notes we were breathing in the same direction. We had the same pace, we had... a mutual understanding. You have it or you don't have it. This is pure luxury.”

So how would Capuçon describe the Concerto itself? “Music has always been a means to express our desperation,” he says, “and I think this is what you can find in this music. But you can also find hope, love, and passion as well. This is music which speaks to my heart and which I feel even in my body, in my skin, in my blood. Even though a lifetime is not enough to understand and explore everything the composer means, I feel very close to this piece.”

The anguished lyricism of Elgar’s Concerto is particularly evident in the first and final movements. As Capuçon admits, it’s hard to escape the powerful memory of du Pré’s interpretation while playing these. Yet in the yearning “Adagio” third movement, Capuçon’s own “voice” clearly emerges. “There is some places in that movement which are very intimate,” he explains, “but at the same time, it's growing into these very long phrases. So you need to find the right character, the right sound, the right vibrato, and the right pace and timing that this line seems to be almost never ending.” The lines may physically end, but there’s a feeling that Capuçon, as he plays those upwardly aspiring phrases, is reaching or longing for something that is just within sight yet unattainable.

After the beefy bravado of Elgar’s finale, Walton’s Cello Concerto casts a more fantastical spell with its magical clock-like opening. Like the Elgar, it is—Capuçon observes—a post-war work, albeit this time the Second World War rather than the First. “It was written for the great cellist Gregor Piatigorsky. I used to know very well the cello on which he played: the Montagnana “Sleeping Beauty,” which belonged to my last teacher Heinrich Schiff.”

Capuçon insists that the Walton is at least as great a work as the Elgar: “I think it’s really a fantastic cello concerto. It’s well written, it allows cellists to sing, to show so many abilities. I think musically speaking it's an incredible piece.” Yet apart from the fact both concertos are by English composers, they are quite different in character. While the Elgar starts and ends in an impassioned manner, the music that begins and ends the Walton has, as Capuçon describes it, “a magical, mysterious atmosphere. Tony [Pappano] and the LSO worked a lot to get the right sound and atmosphere for this Concerto.”

After the first movement, the virtuosity of the Walton hits a new level with the “Allegro appassionato” second movement: “It goes extremely fast,” says Capuçon, “but both you and the orchestra have to find this appassionato character, with all these little ideas played by the woodwind. So it’s really quite a challenge.”

Then there’s the finale, in which the cello has two major solo cadenzas. “This is an extremely challenging movement and actually quite tiring for the left hand!” says Capuçon, who also mentions the ferocious rising scale-like passages Walton gives the soloist. “But it’s really well written. I think Walton and Piatigorsky probably worked close together on this because I think only knowing the instrument very well can allow you to write something like this.”

Inside the Album Booklet
Richly illustrated with color photos from the recording sessions, the booklet includes three pages of conversation between Gautier Capuçon and Antonio Pappano, discussing the Elgar and Walton concertos and other related matters including Capuçon’s 1701 Goffriller instrument and Pappano’s relationship with the LSO.

Album booklets are available in version 2.0 of Apple Music Classical, which you can download now and enjoy as part of your Apple Music subscription. To access booklets, tap on the book icon at the top of your screen.