Today Tammy and I are exchanging selections of our favorite classical music. As a violinist, you'd think I would select a great violin piece, and I really do have my favorites. Mendelssohn's violin concerto, Bruch's Scottish Fantasy and violin concerto (which I attempted as a senior in high school), the Tchaikovsky violin concerto, the Brahms violin concerto. They're all great.
But my heart is telling me to go with my favorite cello CD. Ah, cello music. I always get crushes on cello players (including Matt Jones, my first and only boyfriend in high school). They are sexy, there's no denying it. On this CD, it's Rostropovich playing my 2 favorite cello pieces of all time. The "Variations on a Rococo Theme" by Tchaikovsky was performed by my friend Lucy's brother (John Michel) in high school and it just blew me away. Then, at Interlochen music camp, one of the concerto contest winners was a cellist (Pansy Chang) who played this piece and it still blew me away. Sorry I have no link to the actual music here, but it's too long and should really be appreciated in its entirety. Tammy, I will just have to give you the CD. :-)
The other cello piece, Dvorak's cello concerto, is just magnificent. When I found both these masterpieces on one CD, I knew I had to have it. It just doesn't get any better than this. Even though it's a digitally-remastered old recording, and thus the sound quality is not quite what we are used to these days, it is music that can give me goosebumps and bring tears to my eyes over and over.
Oh - get this! I looked at the back of the CD today and guess what year it was recorded...yup...1969.
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