Pablo Ferrández describes his Moonlight Variations program as “night followed by day.” The latest album from the star Spanish cellist is a realization of his dream to record Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations, the centerpiece of the program, recorded here with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra led by Martin Fröst. The orchestra also joins Ferrández for his own transcription of the “Song to the Moon” from Dvořák’s Rusalka and Tchaikovsky’s Nocturne in D minor. Pianist Julien Quentin is the collaborator for the remainder of the album of night-themed music by Debussy, Schubert, Chopin, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Ponce, and Robert Schumann.
While the centerpiece work of this album — Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations — demonstrates a wide spectrum of colors and emotion, I am drawn to the more intimate selections of the Spanish cellist with his longtime collaborator, pianist Julien Quentin. Listen for the melancholy melody the cello sings in his own arrangement of Chopin’s Nocturne in E-flat, Op. 9, No.2. In a more explicit comparison with the human voice, relish his poignant phrasing of Schubert’s Nacht und Träume or the cool breeze that enters the room wiith his delicate reading of Debussy’s Beau soir.
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