The Swan

With this recording of cello classics, young Han-Na Chang consolidates her reputation as a performer of remarkable maturity and technical accomplishment. The restrained tone of quiet elegy that she brings to these works is hypnotic, and her ability to find the center of a phrase and highlight it with simple clarity is a gift one would expect to find in a player with a few more years' experience. As if that weren't enough, her playing in the upper registers of the instrument also sings with a kind of vocal splendor that is simply gorgeous. For this collection, she has chosen some familiar and some not-so-familiar works, which have been adapted and orchestrated where necessary (with sensitive care) by Chris Hazell. Of the less familiar works, the Adagio con Variazioni by Respighi is a revelation and clearly deserves a firmer place in the repertory. If there is one quibble, it is that the elegiac, wistful mood of the collection varies little and doesn't show the full range of Chang's talent. But when the playing is as good as this, that is only a minor caveat against an otherwise great CD. --Warwick Thompson