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06/05/2025
“Moonlight Variations”
Antonín Dvorák: Rusalka, opus 114: “Song to the Moon” (trans. P. Ferrández) [2, 3, 4]
Claude Debussy: Beau soir, L 84 (trans. P. Ferrández) [1,5]
Franz Schubert: Nacht und Träume, D 827 (trans. P. Ferrández) [1, 5]
Frédéric Chopin: Nocturne in C‑Sharp minor, opus post., KK IVa/16 (arr. N. Milstein) [1, 5] – Nocturne in E‑Flat major, opus 9/2 (arr. P. Ferrández/J. Quentin) [1, 5]
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: 6 Pieces for Piano, opus 51: 6.“Valse sentimentale” (arr. V. Kubatsky) [5] – 6 Pieces for Piano, opus 19: 4. Nocturne in D minor (arr. P.I. Tchaikovsky) [2, 3, 4] – Souvenir d’un lieu cher, opus 42: 3.“Mélodie” (arr. P. Ferrández) [1, 5] – Variations on a Rococo Theme, opus 33 (Fitzenhagen Edition) [2, 3, 4]
Franz Liszt: Liebestraum n° 3 in A‑Flat major: “O lieb, so lang du lieben kannst”, S 541/3 (arr. P. Ferrández/J. Quentin) [5]
Robert Schumann: Kinderszenen, opus 15: 7.“Träumerei” (arr. P. Ferrández/J. Quentin) [5]
Manuel Ponce: Canciones mexicanas: “Estrellita” (arr. J. Heifetz) [1, 5]
Pablo Ferrández (cello), Julien Quentin [1] (piano), Swedish Chamber Orchestra [2], Martin Fröst [3] (conductor)
Recording: Konserthus, Orebro, Sweden (May 30‑31, 2024) [4] and b‑sharp Studios, Berlin, Germany (August 3‑5, 2024) [5]
Sony Classical G010005447981C – Booklet in English and German
Spanish cellist Pablo Ferrández’s “Moonlight Variations” is more than a little romantic’s night music. It is a deep dive into the after dark themes from the composers whose works defined the Romantic Era: a lively collection of nocturnal musings by Dvorák, Debussy, Schubert, Chopin, Liszt, Ponce, Schumann and, luminously, Tchaikovsky.
Ferrández plays on a 1689 Archinto Stradivarius cello: an instrument with warmth while allowing the cellist’s technical artistry and dimensional translucent dynamics to prevail with compliments of the Swedish Chamber Orchestra (SCO), led by Martin Fröst.
Stating the themes right out of the gate is Antonin Dvorák’s Mesicku na nebi hlubokém (“Song to the Moon”) from Rusalka. This Ferrández cello transcription entrances with his supple bowing and shimmering repose of the SCO musicians.
Then, we move into the twilight sound-garden of Claude Debussy’s Beau soir (Beautiful evening). The journeying cello voicings are transporting. Upon visiting Franz Schubert’s Nacht und Träume (Night and Dreams), Ferrández’s transcription of the melancholic cello is tempered by lullabying counterpoint by pianist, Julien Quentin. Next, Chopin’s heart‑achy Nocturne in C‑Sharp minor reveals a blushing cello, arranged by Nathan Milstein.
Tchaikovsky’s Valse sentimentale is the first of three miniatures by the composer that is a perfect entr’acte to Franz Liszt’s indelible Liebestraum (Dream of Love), so easily vamped in movies or a romantic era parody, but in this arrangement for cello and piano, Quentin and Ferrández keep it conservatoire tight and lithe.
Then onto Robert Schumann’s equally famous Träumerei (Dreaming from Kinderszenen). It works its musical magic in all of its somnambulist spell. It’s true to its introspective moodiness, rendered by Ferrández’s basso cello lines and the floating whispers on Quentin’s piano.
Tchaikovsky’s Nocturne in D Minor blooms in all of its entrancing mystique, and it is re‑emphasized by Ferrández’s notes as “beauty in negative emotions...the great composers can use harmony to activate something in your brain that gives you immediate access to these emotional worlds.” His cello and a crystalizing flute solo (unfortunately uncredited in the disc info) bring to surface a dimensional immediacy and dramatic capture on this recording.
Manuel Ponce’s glimmering aura of Estrellita (“Little Star” from Canciones mexicanas) reveals a crisp silvery moon arrangement by legendary violinist Jascha Heifetz. Tchaikovsky’s “Mélodie” (from Souvenir d’un lieu cher) has a dancing mid‑tempo mise en scène, and it is followed by Chopin’s Nocturne in E‑Flat major, both works that showpiece the cellist’s tenderest bowing.
The recording’s finale is Variations on a Rococo Theme for Cello and Orchestra. Ferrández describes the piece as a “Tchaikovsky expressionism” and a work that he’s been playing for 20 years. It still remains, as he calls it, “a rite of passage for a serious cellist...and so virtuosic”. The luminous orchestral opening, with its Mozartian progression, segues into seven Variations with a range of contrasting themes, nocturnal or not. And Ferrández’s harmonic sensibilities are performed with inimitable tone and unfussy technique, mindful of the composer’s “romantic soul bursting out”. Ferrández details both its melancholic and passionate spirit, a work that makes him reflect as “supposedly contained along classical lines...ultimately, Tchaikovsky just cannot help but sound like himself.”
On a personal note, listening to these masterworks from the Romantic canon inside this raging, unfathomable world, reminds us that “Moonlight Variations” still has the power to soothe this savage beast.
Lewis J. Whittington
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