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This CD may be ordered from Guild Music, ArkivMusic.com and Amazon.com. Available for download at Amazon .com and iTunes.
Dvořák's New World Symphony inspired Herbert's Cello Concerto No. 2, which in turn inspired Dvořák to write his Cello Concerto, a masterpiece among concerti. Dvořák's Silent Woods begins the disc.
"Recording this Dvořák Concerto, which has been recorded by virtually all the great cellists of the 20th century … is quite a challenge. The veteran American cellist James Kreger meets it handsomely. His highly disciplined cello playing is uniformly rich in sound, pure in intonation, and convincing in phrasing." —Robert McColley, Fanfare
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CDs and downloads of the Mendelssohn recording are available at Amazon.com. Or download at iTunes.
“Kreger’s interpretation is absolutely magnificent …. He has all the qualities for playing these works. The precision, intonation, virtuosity, sound, more indispensable here than elsewhere, because Mendelssohn is also a composer of immediate seduction, of a charm of the first order that must be founded on a beautiful sonority and on beautiful phrasing validating the ineffable cantabile line.” —Répertoire (France)
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CD available at Guild Music, ArkivMusic.com and Amazon.com. May be downloaded at Amazon.com and iTunes.
“James Kreger’s cello Don is positively luminous in the finale.” —Colin Clarke, Fanfare
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CD may be ordered from ArkivMusic.com and Amazon.com. Available for download at iTunes.
“Both dramatic and rhapsodic, the F Minor Trio (1883) pulses with declamatory and lyric fervor. The cello part — passionately put forth by Kreger — possesses a decidedly virtuosic, solo character….The cello speaks for Dvořák’s songful soul in the Poco adagio, where Dicterow’s violin joins Kreger for several lovely intertwinings.” —Audiophile Audition
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CD may be ordered from Amazon.com and downloaded from iTunes.
“Moving toward the heart of the disc, we find Ibert's little-known gem, Concerto for Cello and Wind Instruments (1925), the lyrical answer to Milhaud's spareness. Soloist James Kreger rises to the formidable technical and expressive demands of the piece and then transcends them. His interpretation is broad and passionate without being cloying. Even in the percussive sections, he never sacrifices his singing tone. For such a commanding solo presence, Kreger is surprisingy sensitive in the passages which call for dialog with instruments of the ensemble.” —High Performance Review
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