Handel-Halvorsen Passacaglia on the Cello

Julia Fischer, Daniel Muller-Schott

Perlman/Zuckerman will always own this piece in the minds of the (very small) public who loves this piece enough to listen to it on loop. But the added weight of the cello makes it completely different - more operatic and earnest, it's less conversational and feels like far less of a showpiece this way. Perhaps this is closer to what Halvorsen had in mind. Can the music handle (no pun intended) the added weight? Mostly, though it leak a bit of steam at some points. But nobody can match the intimacy, the agility, or the unanimity of conception between Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zuckerman. Would that they'd have played their entire careers at this level of musicianship.