“A cello concerto by Ellen Taaffe Zwilich (b.1939) was always going to be big news,” says The Strad magazine in its review of the Delos recording of Ellen’s works, praising “this sassy, jazzy work in which Zwilich’s hallmark propulsive energy in passages of incisively bowed syncopated semiquavers, alternates with moments of profound calm. The orchestration is original and very effective, with the solo cello … dialoguing with different instruments, and sounding particularly effective when playing in its uppermost reaches, above high violins, at the start of the third movement.”
The review continues, “The tightly worked Prologue and Variations (1983) shows a particular affinity for the string-orchestra medium, and the Romance, for the composer’s own instrument, is beautifully characterised by concertmaster Joseph Edelberg.”