Featured In
ALBUMRebecca Dale: Night SeasonsPhilharmonia Orchestra, Nigel Short, Tenebrae, Steven Isserlis & Guy Johnston
Albums by Steven Isserlis
ALBUMRebecca Dale: Night SeasonsPhilharmonia Orchestra, Nigel Short, Tenebrae, Steven Isserlis & Guy Johnston
ALBUMA Golden Cello Decade, 1878-1888: Dvořák, R. Strauss, Bruch, Le BeauSteven Isserlis & Connie Shih
ALBUMBritish Solo Cello Music: Britten Suite No. 3, Walton, Gardner, Merrick & AdèsSteven Isserlis
ALBUMCello Music from Proust's SalonsSteven Isserlis & Connie Shih
ALBUMTavener: No Longer Mourn for Me & Other Works for CelloSteven Isserlis
ALBUMShostakovich & Kabalevsky: Cello SonatasSteven Isserlis & Olli Mustonen
ALBUMChopin: Cello Sonata – Schubert: Arpeggione SonataSteven Isserlis & Dénes Várjon
ALBUMThe Cello in WartimeSteven Isserlis & Connie Shih
ALBUMHaydn: Cello Concertos; C.P.E. Bach: Cello ConcertoSteven Isserlis & Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen
ALBUMElgar: Cello Concerto - Walton: Cello ConcertoSteven Isserlis, Philharmonia Orchestra & Paavo Järvi
Steven Isserlis's Popular Music Videos
Double Concerto in A Minor, Op. 102 for Violin, Cello and Orchestra/I. Allegro
Joshua Bell, Steven Isserlis & Academy of St Martin in the Fields
Piano Trio in B Major, Op. 8 (1854 Version)/Adagio non troppo - Allegro - Tempo primo
Joshua Bell, Jeremy Denk & Steven Isserlis
Double Concerto in A Minor, Op. 102 for Violin, Cello and Orchestra/II. Andante
Joshua Bell, Steven Isserlis & Academy of St Martin in the Fields
Ave Maria (feat. Steven Isserlis)
Joshua Bell
Violin Concerto in D Minor, WoO 23: II. Langsam (codetta by Benjamin Britten)
Joshua Bell, Steven Isserlis & Academy of St Martin in the Fields
Piano Trio in B Major, Op. 8 (1854 Version)/Allegro con moto - Tempo un poco più Moderato
Joshua Bell, Jeremy Denk & Steven Isserlis
Piano Trio in B Major, Op. 8 (1854 Version)/Finale: Allegro molto agitato - Un poco più lento - Tempo primo
Joshua Bell, Jeremy Denk & Steven Isserlis
Piano Trio in B Major, Op. 8 (1854 Version)/Scherzo: Allegro molto - Trio: Più lento - Tempo primo
Joshua Bell, Jeremy Denk & Steven Isserlis
Double Concerto in A Minor, Op. 102 for Violin, Cello and Orchestra/III. Vivace non troppo
Joshua Bell, Steven Isserlis & Academy of St Martin in the Fields
Artist Biography
A sinewy yet expressive lyricism characterizes the playing of British cellist Steven Isserlis. His sound partly derives from his use of gut rather than metal strings: Isserlis makes up for their relatively reticent character with Zen-like focus on tone and the expressive line of the music he performs.
Born in London in 1958, Isserlis studied at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. By his own account, however, he was inspired above all by recordings of the Russian cellist Daniil Shafran, as well as those of Pablo Casals whose playing of Schumann inspired Isserlis’ lifelong love of that composer.
The Protecting Veil, a concerto Isserlis commissioned from the English composer John Tavener and premiered at the 1989 BBC Proms, catapulted him to widespread fame, sealed by his subsequent 1992 recording of that work. He also at this time formed a piano trio with two very different musicians—the impetuous pianist Olli Mustonen, and the glowingly lyrical violinist Joshua Bell—with whom he successfully toured and recorded. He has also recorded several times with the pianist Stephen Hough.
Isserlis’ repertoire and his enthusiasms are notably wide, encompassing the Cello Suites of both J.S. Bach and Britten as well as concertos by C.P.E. Bach and Haydn; yet he has a particular fondness for Russian repertoire, and has recorded such neglected works as Kabalevsky’s Cello Concerto No. 2 and the original version of Prokofiev’s Cello Concerto, of which he made the first complete recording in 2013.
Hometown
London, England
Genre
Classical