Cellist Joseph Schuster in Schumann, Bruch and 'J.C. Bach'

Joseph Schuster (1903-69) was an exceptional cellist who was neglected by the record companies. To my knowledge, these are his only solo recordings with orchestra. [Correction: I'm told he also recorded Boccherini and Tartini concertos with Jonel Perlea.]

Schuster, born in Constantinople,  achieved prominence as the first cellist of Furtwängler's Berlin Philharmonic from 1929-34. He moved to the US after the Nazi ascension, becoming the leader of the New York Philharmonic cello section. He embarked on a solo career in 1944.

Joseph Schuster

Schuster moved to Los Angeles in 1947, where he came to the attention of film composer Franz Waxman (1906-67). The latter had formed the Los Angeles Orchestral Society in 1947, eventually recording two classical LPs for Capitol and one for US Decca as a conductor. Schuster never appeared in concert with Waxman's orchestra, suggesting that it was Capitol that brought the soloist and conductor together. The cellist was to record a second Capitol LP in 1953, Rachmaninoff with pianist Leonard Pennario.

Franz Waxman

This, the first of Waxman's Capitol LPs, dates from December 1952, and offers two standard items from the cello/orchestral repertory, and one unusual piece. The major work is Schumann's Cello Concerto, a gorgeous creation that here benefits from Schuster's golden, burnished tone and eloquent approach. Some find him emotionally cool; I think his style is ideal.

The Schumann is complemented by another treasurable cello work, Max Bruch's Kol Nidrei of 1880, which again finds an expressive advocate in Schuster.

The final work is announced as a Cello Concerto in A minor by J.C. Bach, supposedly found in the effects of Camille Saint-Saëns by Henri Casadesus, and introduced by Schuster to the US concert halls. Even back then there was some doubt as to its provenance. High Fidelity reviewer Paul Affelder guessed that Casadesus had a hand in composing it. It turns out Casadesus had both hands in it, and these days it is presented as a Henri Casadesus concerto "in the style of J.C. Bach." Also, the work was published as a viola concerto, but neither Schuster nor Capitol make mention of this fact. Regardless, it is an attractive anachronism that is an effective foil to the Bruch and Schumann works, and the cellist is again a persuasive proponent.

Such faux antiquities had a vogue in the early decades of the last century. Another example is a Toccata supposedly by the 17th century composer Girolamo Frescobaldi that turned out to be the work of 20th century cellist Gaspar Cassadó. It was recorded in 1940 as a Frescobaldi composition by Hans Kindler with the National Symphony, and can be found here.

1948 Musical America ad

Capitol's recording is kind to the soloist, while seemingly indifferent to the orchestra, which is set in a boxy acoustic. I have added an ambient stereo effect to help address the cramped sonics. Ambient stereo usually has little to offer, but here it does lend a bit of space to the orchestral sound without altering the mix.

Waxman's only other Capitol recording with the Los Angeles Orchestral Society involved settings of love duets from Romeo and Juliet by Gounod and Tchaikovsky-Taneyev. I have the record and will transfer it later on. The Waxman-LA recording on Decca was offered here years ago and is still available. It couples works by Lukas Foss and Waxman himself. 

Also available here on this blog is an LP of Waxman conducting his music for the 1946 movie Humoresque. The record features Isaac Stern in several arrangements, and Oscar Levant in a Tristan und Isolde concerto that Wagner never contemplated.

Schuster recorded a fair amount of chamber music for Vox, along with the Brahms double concerto and Beethoven triple concerto. This is his first appearance on the blog.

The download includes reviews from The Gramophone, The New Records, Saturday Review and New York Times, along with the High Fidelity article mentioned above.