British Solo Cello Music: Britten Suite No. 3, Walton, Gardner, Merrick & Adès

Steven Isserlis launches his solo programme with two works by Benjamin Britten. First up is Tema “Sacher”, composed during Britten’s final illness—a short but forceful cry of defiance in the face of death. Then comes Cello Suite No. 3, a multi-movement masterwork based on four Russian tunes, with Isserlis brilliantly bringing out every shade of the music’s brooding inventiveness. He also includes arrangements of the four tunes themselves: three by Tchaikovsky (with piano accompaniment), and an Orthodox Church chant, where he plays in multi-tracked four-part harmony. Next is a lineup of British rarities—two solo works by Walton, one by John Gardner, and the likeable and engaging Suite in the Eighteenth-Century Style by English composer/pianist Frank Merrick. Isserlis signs off with Sola, a deftly composed miniature written by Thomas Adès in a single evening.