Inspiration (2018)

performed by Alinka Rowe (viola), City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Cellos, Didier Osindero (violin), Elspeth Dutch (horn);...
composed by Bob Marley & the Wailers, Camille Saint-Saëns, Dmitry Shostakovich, Jacques Offenbach, Leonard Cohen, Pablo Casals, Yosef Hadar

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The British classical scene has a tendency toward musicians and singers of unusual backgrounds, who are lauded and marveled at and then discarded until the next one comes along. But there are strong indications that the cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, the first non-white winner of the BBC Young Musicians competition, will have staying power beyond the norm. The "Inspiration" title is more than just a general one: the program pays tribute to Kanneh-Mason's role models, including Mstislav Rostropovich, who premiered the Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1, Op. 107, Jacqueline du Pré, who was associated with the French repertory heard here, Pablo Casals, and Bob Marley, whose No Woman No Cry is heard in a delightful chamber arrangement for multiple cellos. Kanneh-Mason succeeds more in the Shostakovich than in the little-known Offenbach pieces here, really catching the venom of the finale. But throughout, he shows the capacity to make a distinct personal statement, which is unusual in a teenage musician, and... Read Less

The British classical scene has a tendency toward musicians and singers of unusual backgrounds, who are lauded and marveled at and then discarded until the next one comes along. But there are strong indications that the cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, the first non-white winner of the BBC Young Musicians competition, will have staying power beyond the norm. The "Inspiration" title is more than just a general one: the program pays tribute to Kanneh-Mason's role models, including Mstislav Rostropovich, who premiered the ... Read More