Review of Jean Guéhen Cuerras-Haydn: Cello Concerto

Modern symphony orchestras often play Joseph Haydn’s music in some sort of retrospective light—as if it were an early, unsophisticated form of Romanticism. This CD of Haydn’s Cello Concerto, recorded in 2004 and now reissued, shows how much baroque tonal language there is and how different it can be made. Jan Guéhin Cuerras is not a professional Baroque cellist, but he is very familiar with the practice of historical performance and has a partner in the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra with whom he shares his interpretive headquarters. Together they form a unity that couldn’t be better, especially in terms of tonal coordination, with more emphasis on transparency than on fullness and warmth. A nice addition to Haydn’s concertos is Georg Martin Moon’s Concerto in G minor, written in the late Baroque style.

Haydn: Cell Concertos No. 1 and 2, Moon: Cello Concerto in G minor (Remastered)

Jan Guehen Cuyras (cello), Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Petra Mulgans (conductor)
Haronia Mundi

Freiburg Baroque Orchestra

The idea of ​​founding an early music ensemble came about on New Year’s Eve 1985. Two years later, some students from the Freiburg Academy of Music put their idea into practice and performed for the first time under the direction of… More

Jan Guehen Cuiras

French cellist Jean Guéhen Cuerras was born in Montreal in 1967. Technical perfection, clear voice and passion for the essence of music are among his trademarks. His work is heavily influenced by Pierre Boulez,…more