A decade ago Pieter Wispelwey recorded Britten’s three cello suites for the Globe label (GLO5074). The performances were superb, demonstrating a high level of interpretive insight. Wispelwey’s fine technical control and precision never faltered, and the only down-side was Globe’s close, arid recording. Wispelwey’s new Channel Classics survey brings substantial sonic gains, but these performances lack the intensity and compulsion of their predecessors, adding nothing to what was said very persuasively in 1992.
Wispelwey’s exploration faces sternest competition from the exceptionally fine renditions by Truls Mørk (Virgin Classics). You’ll notice the differences instantly in the Moto perpetuo from Suite No. 3. Mørk plays this movement with tremendous verve and seems completely untroubled by its bruising technical hurdles. Wispelwey is slower, less free-wheeling and imaginative, and more cautious in his approach. In contrasting sections of a more reflective nature, Wispelwey sounds plainer, too. That’s most apparent in the austere Passacaglia from the Third suite, or in the Serenata from Suite No. 1–Mørk’s pizzicatos are astounding here! Wispelwey’s finest moments come in the Ciacconna ending Suite No. 2. He plays magnificently, if anything even better than in 1992, but still without eclipsing Mørk, whose traversals remain far ahead of the rest of the field.
