Channel Classics gives us under-appreciated stellar talents in violinist Rachel Podger and cellist Peter Wispelwey, and Naxos offers parallels in violinist Michiko Kamiya and cellist Vytautas Sondeckis in it's Laureate series. Sondeckis serves up a 60-minute box of assortment from eastern Europe here, with expressive vibrato and the solid technical skills one might expect from the son of a distinguished cellist and student of David Geringas, himself a renowned cellist who ably conducts the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra in this recording. Much of the music is familiar: Tchaikovsky's Melody, Nocturne, and Andante Cantabile, Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumblebee and Serenade, and Rachmaninoff's Vocalise. Other pieces are less well-known, works by Davidov, Dvarionas and Taneyev, and a lush Shostakovich adagio arranged for cello and string orchestra by Atovmyan.

Tracklist:

The Flight Of The Bumble-Bee
By The Lake (Prie Ezerelio)
Melodie Op.42, No.3
Nocturne Op.19, No.4
Melodie
Ballade Op.25
At The Fountain Op.20, No.2
Intro And Rondino
Canzona in f
Ballet Ste No.2: Adagio
Vocalise Op.34, No.14
Ser Op.37
Str Qt No.1 in D, Op.11: Andante Cantabile, Op. Posth.

UPC: 636943438121
Label: Naxos
Release Date: 4.11.00
Format: CD

Vytautas Sondeckis - Romantic Music for Cello (Laureate Series: Cello)