5 stars: An auspicious debut for Lyngstad, and cause for a happy re-evaluation (for me, anyway) of these two concertos.

KABALEVSKY Cello Concerto No. 2. SCHUMANN Cello Concerto  Theodor Lyngstad (vc); Eva Ollikainen, cond; Copenhagen P  OUR 8.226926 (52:39)

I confess to a long-standing prejudice against, or skepticism about, these two concertos, and I am glad to announce that my prejudice has been shattered by this new recording, which is very fine in every way. Lyngstad (b. 1993) is Norwegian by birth, and has held the “position of solo cellist” with the Copenhagen Phil [sic] since 2019. (I used scare quotes in the previous sentence because I am not entirely sure what that phrase means in this context, but I assume it means first chair player, as Lyngstad is listed amongst the orchestra's musicians on the ensemble's website.) He studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, in Oslo, and at the Manhattan School of Music. Currently, he teaches at the Copenhagen Phil Orchestra Academy.
I think my feelings against Kabalevsky's concerto are a result of his embrace of socialist realism. He seems to have been more politically accommodating than Shostakovich, for example, but maybe it is not my place to judge him, especially if he was trying to protect himself or his loved ones. Like Shostakovich, Kabalevsky wrote two cello concertos, and in both cases I much prefer the darker second concerto. Kabalevsky's outgoing, positive first concerto certainly follows the party line. The second dates from 1964 and was composed for the great Daniil Shafran, who can be heard playing it on a Russian Compact Disc release. Nevertheless, it is Lyngstad who won me over by wearing a velvet glove instead of a gauntlet. Without shortchanging any of this concerto's tension and drama, Lyngstad brings an unexpected elegance to this work, and that elegance worked for me—for, example in the quieter sections of the second movement, which sometimes sounds like it could have been written by Bernard Herrmann. Huntley Dent (Fanfare 38:5) wrote that Kabalevsky's Cello Concerto No. 2 “sounds timidly conformist.” Maybe this new performance would change his mind, because Lyngstad and Ollikainen do not leave me with the impression that this music is weak in any way. There is much in this score that I find moving, even if it is not as good as Shostakovich.
For me, the “problem” (scare quotes again!) with Schumann's Cello Concerto has been that it is not as easy to understand as his Piano Concerto, but that problem really is a function of my intellectual laziness, not of Schumann's skills as a composer. It took Lyngstad to bring me to my senses—again, with his elegant, melancholy playing, which is involving from the moment he enters. (And in this concerto, like in the Piano Concerto, one does not have long to wait!) Passages that seemed uninspired or unimaginative to me in the past do not seem so here.
Conductor Ollikainen's gentle (should I say “motherly”?) encouragement of the music's forward motion also helps. Attempts to turn this score into a pushy, lush Romantic opus seem to be what ultimately does it in, but that does not happen here. The orchestra is a “full-sized” ensemble, but I am wondering if the number of musicians was reduced for this concerto. If so, good idea. If not, kudos to Ollikainen for her sense of proportion.
This is a great CD debut for Lyngstad, who seems like a major talent, and an unusually sensitive one. I hope to hear more of his work in the near future.
Sometimes it is nice to be proven wrong, and this is one of those times. Raymond Tuttle