Cellist Ko Iwasaki returns to the Camerata label for another installment of the cello's standard repertoire. This 2008 disc includes the two Haydn cello concertos with the
Polish Chamber Orchestra under conductor Volker Schmidt-Gertenbach. With so many superior extant recordings of these two cornerstone works, Iwasaki certainly faces an uphill battle. While his playing is generally solid, it's far from flawless; errors in intonation are definitely noticeable in the thin texture Haydn provides throughout the two concertos, and inaccuracies of this kind quickly take Iwasaki out of the running to produce one of the best recordings of these works. Both Iwasaki and the
Polish Chamber Orchestra seem to struggle with pacing, with the appearance of rushing coming up throughout the outer movements of both concertos. The real issue for most listeners, however, is one of interpretation. There's certainly nothing approaching "performance practice" to this recording. Iwasaki and the orchestra play with a clearly Romantic leaning in articulation (the majority of the playing is extremely legato, in-the-string), vibrato (excessively wide and intense), and phrasing (with an overabundance of rubato, detracting from the graceful flow of the music). The biggest departures from anything even remotely "Haydn-esque" are the cadenzas used in both concertos. The liner notes do not specify whether these are of Iwasaki's hand or not, but they are absurdly showy and make listeners forget that they were even listening to Haydn in the first place.