Lovers of Robert Schumann’s lieder – and I count myself among those happy multitudes – will find song in everything he wrote. Judging by this intimate, lyrical performance, Belarusian-French cellist Ivan Karizna, conductor Otto Tausk and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra certainly seem to have done so in the composer’s Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. 129.

The song-seed had however already been planted when, following attacca the Overture from Haydn’s Die Schöpfung(The Creation), Sibelius’ The Swan of Tuonelafound Jonathan Ryan’s cor anglais soaring magnificently over WASO’s transparent strings. A standout performance which earned Ryan much enthusiastic applause.

Equally miraculous however was the way Tausk and WASO, with superb dynamic, textural and rhythmic finesse, made the Sibelius seem to emerge quite naturally out of the Haydn. Creation, indeed.

Equipped with a 1760 Tassini cello formerly owned by Paul Tortelier, Karizna – making his WASO debut – then joined WASO for the Schumann. That conductor and orchestra had already demonstrated such clarity, such precise yet flexible rhythmic control, such transparency of sound in the preceding works was undeniable.

What Karizna brought to the mix was the sense of songster and storyteller combined, the ensuing conversation more reminiscent of Schumann’s Dichterliebe, as between baritone and an exquisite piano accompaniment, than of a heroic concerto.

Read the full review at Limelight