Reviews | RH-034 | CHRISTINE WALEVSKA | private archive recordings
 July 2025 | Christoph Schlüren | FONO FORUM - 07/25 p.66 | Rhine Classics' Historical Anthologies [...] For the first time, Pessina has brought a cello legend into the spotlight: the wildly romantic Christine Walevska (born 1945), a master student of the great Ennio Bolognini. I previously knew her from her Philips recordings with Eliahu Inbal from Monte Carlo in 1972/73: the two concertos and the suite by Saint-Saëns (the hypervirtuosic Second Concerto sets the standard), as well as the great concertos by Prokofiev and Khachaturian. Here, she sweeps us off our feet, brilliantly and without arbitrariness, live with maximum risk-taking, in three cello suites by Bach (young cellists may take the verve and poetry of the D minor Suite as a model), and in sonatas by Chopin, Brahms, Debussy, Prokofiev, and Pierre Sancan, Beethoven's Triple Concerto, Bloch's Schelomo, and the Dvořák Concerto. Her controlled, explosive spontaneity is absolutely worth hearing. A particular highlight is the Hindemith concerto with Dean Dixon, a select rarity by William Schuman's 'A Song of Orpheus,' where we encounter the eminent violinist Henri Temianka in 1964 as leader of the California Chamber Symphony. Her homages to Argentina should not be missed either: Piazzolla, Ginastera, and—three times—Bolognini. [...]
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30 March 2025 | Jean-Charles Hoffelé | ARTAMAG' - Focus - Le disque du jour | LA RETROUVÉE Au long des années soixante-dix, Christine Walevska enregistra une poignée de microsillons qui révélaient un sacré tempérament. Je n’ai pas oublié ses Concertos de Saint-Saëns d’une folle virtuosité sous la baguette d’Eliahu Inbal, comme exalté par cette pure énergie qui emportera également un admirable Concerto de Schumann. Philips tenait là l’un des archets majeurs de sa génération, et toutes ses gravures pour le label néerlandais ont été récemment réunies dans un beau petit coffret pour le marché japonais. Emilio Pessina a eu accès aux archives privées de la violoncelliste : le report de deux rares microsillons (« Concerto de violoncello » paru sous l’étiquette brésilienne Sodira, le LP édité à compte d’auteur « The Artistry of Christine Walevska ») mais surtout quantité de captations en concert qui montrent l’étendue de son répertoire, de Bach à Jean Françaix, illustrant la part chambriste que Philips avait ignorée, préférant mettre l’accent sur la virtuose plutôt que sur la musicienne. Trois Suites de Bach, les Sonates de Chopin et de Prokofiev, la Première Sonate de Brahms, celle de Debussy, soulignent à quel point cet archet « parlait les notes » ; une rareté absolue, la Sonate de Pierre Sancan, rappelle sa gourmandise côté répertoires, aussi dans le domaine baroque – ses Vivaldi chez Philips l’indiquaient déjà, ici, hors Bach ces Concerts de Couperin relu en une seule suite par Bazelaire. Les ajouts côté concerto sont tout aussi précieux : le Dvořák fut son cheval de bataille, outil idéal pour démontrer sa grande technique mais aussi à quel point le son de ce violoncelle portait : deux mouvements seulement à Bruxelles pour André Vandernoot, mais à Paris, en 1976, sous le geste impérieux de Carlos Païta, toute l’œuvre emportée par ce lyrisme inextinguible qu’au disque Sir Alexander Gibson avait déjà goûté. Le Concerto d’Hindemith, littéralement transfiguré par un archet si autoritaire, et si splendidement conduit par Dean Dixon, à Francfort en 1967, deux ans plus tard le Schelomo d’Hambourg où Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt hausse l’œuvre à une dimension quasi philosophique – la gravure de studio avec Eliahu inbal était aussi superbe – et enfin A Song of Orpheus de William Schuman, donné sous la baguette d’Henri Temianka à Los Angeles en création pour la côte Ouest des Etats-Unis, qui rappelle sa dévotion aux compositeurs de son pays natal, complètent à coup d’inédits ce portrait parfait d’une interprète majeure, enfin retrouvée. Throughout the 1970s, Christine Walevska recorded a handful of LPs that revealed a truly remarkable temperament. I haven't forgotten her breathtakingly virtuosic Saint-Saëns Concertos under the baton of Eliahu Inbal, as if exalted by that pure energy that also propelled her to an admirable Schumann Concerto. Philips had one of the leading violinists of her generation, and all her recordings for the Dutch label have recently been collected in a beautiful little box set for the Japanese market. Emilio Pessina gained access to the cellist's private archives: the remastering of two rare LPs ("Concerto de violoncello," released on the Brazilian label Sodira, and the self-released LP "The Artistry of Christine Walevska"), but above all, a wealth of concert recordings that demonstrate the breadth of her repertoire, from Bach to Jean Françaix, illustrating the chamber music side that Philips had overlooked, preferring to emphasize the virtuoso rather than the musician. Three Bach Suites, the Sonatas of Chopin and Prokofiev, Brahms's First Sonata, and Debussy's Sonata underscore how this bow truly "spoke the notes"; an absolute rarity, the Sonata by Pierre Sancan, recalls her voracious appetite for repertoire, including in the Baroque realm—her Vivaldi recordings on Philips already indicated this, here, in addition to Bach, are the Couperin Concertos reinterpreted as a single suite by Bazelaire. The additions to the concerto repertoire are equally valuable: Dvořák was his forte, an ideal tool for demonstrating his great technique but also the powerful sound of this cello: only two movements in Brussels for André Vandernoot, but in Paris, in 1976, under the commanding baton of Carlos Païta, the entire work was swept away by that inextinguishable lyricism that Sir Alexander Gibson had already experienced on record. Hindemith's Concerto, literally transfigured by such an authoritative bow, and so splendidly conducted by Dean Dixon, in Frankfurt in 1967, two years later the Schelomo in Hamburg where Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt raises the work to an almost philosophical dimension – the studio recording with Eliahu Inbal was also superb – and finally A Song of Orpheus by William Schuman, given under the baton of Henri Temianka in Los Angeles as a premiere for the West Coast of the United States, which recalls her devotion to the composers of her native country, complete with unreleased material this perfect portrait of a major performer, finally rediscovered. [JCH] |
 21 February 2025 | Rob Cowan | GRAMOPHONE - Vol.108 March 2025 | Box-Set / Round-Up Rob Cowan on collections devoted to two pianists, a cellist and a composer  [...] Another collection of archive CDs celebrates the considerable artistry and beautiful tone of the American cellist Christine Walevska, best known for her Philips recordings (a box, please, Eloquence?), especially of works by Saint-Saëns. The First Concerto also turns up in Rhine Classics’ Walevska collection ‘The Beauty & the Bow’, as does the Dvorák Concerto (two versions, one where we also hear Walevska interviewed by conductor André Vandernoot, the other under Carlos Païta), the Beethoven Triple with Henryk Szeryng and pianist Monique Duphil, Hindemith’s Third Concerto under Dean Dixon, William Schuman’s A Song of Orpheus with the distinguished violinist and quartet leader Henri Temianka conducting and a deeply moving account of Bloch’s Schelomo where Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt is on the rostrum. We also hear three Bach Cello Suites (Nos 1‑3), as well as duo pieces by Haydn, Brahms, Prokofiev (his Cello Sonata) and Chopin (his Introduction and Polonaise brillante). In her prime Walevska was one of those players who virtually became her instrument and I’m happy to report that in addition to some exceptional music-making, Rhine Classics’ collection is very well annotated (by Gary Lemco) and richly illustrated. |
 16 January 2025 | Jonathan Woolf | MusicWeb International The admirable cellist Christine Walevska traced over 50 years of performances and recordings [JW] [...] The broadcasts, rare LPs and other material in this box reveal a formidably equipped performer across the span of the repertoire. In those Philips discs she was paired with conductors Eliahu Inbal, Alexander Gibson, Edo de Waart and Kurt Redel for a tranche of concerto recordings, and there are a few examples of repertoire duplication – the Dvořák concerto and Schelomo for instance – but very little else. [...] an excellent performance of Pierre Sancan’s test piece Sonata of 1961. She catches precisely its taut, sullen but finally cheerful qualities. Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations are heard with the piano accompaniment of Robert Parris – lyrically impressive and dextrous. There’s also the first exposure of her playing of Bolognini’s Serenata del Gaucho (there are four altogether throughout the box), a spicy pizzicato-and-legato study played with tremendous brio. Pièce en forme de habanera is here too and was one of Maréchal’s favourite encore pieces. [...] Dvořák’s Concerto, heard complete this time, with the Orchestre national de France directed by Carlos Paita in 1976. The orchestra is immeasurably better than the one in Brussels eight years earlier. Walevska plays eloquently throughout and one can hear why Josef Suk was so attracted to her playing and invited her to perform in Prague. [...] |
 22 December 2024 | Gary Lemco | KZSU Music - podcast | Christine Walevska The Music Treasury celebrates Christine Walevska, master cellist Over four decades of concertizing across the globe she has played with orchestras throughout Germany, the United States, France, in every corner of Spain, Poland, Mexico, Central and South America,(where she has brought music to every big city or small, wherever there is a concert hall with an orchestra or piano to accompany her) in Holland with the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Hague, in the Concertgebouw, the Stockholm Philharmonic, the Israel Philharmonic, Vienna, Italy, Prague, Cuba, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Dresdener Philharmonic, concerts in Japan, Hong Kong, China and Taiwan. This book with multimedia excerpts can be read and heard at: https://musicaeconoscenza.it/newp/index.php/english-books/anton-dvoraks-farewell/ . (Gary Lemco, Ph.D., Host of The Music Treasury) PROGRAM (derived from the Rhine Classics set: “Christine Walevska: The Beauty and the Bow”) |