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Artist: Bion Tsang
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Bion Tsang:

CANTABILE w/ RSNO - Scott Yoo

In his newest release, cellist Bion Tsang returns to Glasgow, Scotland for his second recording with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and conductor Scott Yoo.  CANTABILE, available from Universal Music Group on digital platforms tomorrow, April 14, and on CD in May 2023, features two works by Tchaikovsky, Variations on a Rococo Theme (Op. 33) and Andante Cantabile (Op. 11), and Schumann’s Cello Concerto, bookended by two renditions of Pablo Casals’ “Song of the Birds.”

CANTABILE opens with Casals’ “Song of the Birds” for cello and orchestra, setting an intention for the album’s romantic arc.  The mood lifts with the elegant and virtuosic Variations on a Rococo Theme of Tchaikovsky, which is followed by the heart-wrenching Schumann Cello Concerto. The beloved, lyrical Andante Cantabile by Tchaikovksy and Tsang’s own arrangement for unaccompanied cello of “Song of the Birds” complete the album.

The making of Tsang’s album appears in Season 4 of PBS Great Performances’ NOW HEAR THIS, an episode devoted to exploring Schumann’s mental health and creativity.  Tsang and Yoo are seen discussing the alterations made to Schumann’s manuscript of the Cello Concerto, which they feel ultimately changed the emotional concept of the original work.  NOW HEAR THIS episode “Schumann: Genius and Madness” premieres April 14 worldwide on PBS (check local listings).

Bion Tsang:

Bach - Cello Suites

A new recording BION TSANG: BACH CELLO SUITES from Sony Classical combines the artistry of the remarkable cellist Bion Tsang with the exquisite sonority of a rarely heard Stradivari cello. Tsang's Bach Suites follow the success of his Dvorak/Enescu Cello Concertos with Scott Yoo and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (2019), also from Sony Classical. Tsang recorded the Six Suites for Violoncello Solo by Johann Sebastian Bach in Bastyr Chapel, Seattle, on the 1713 "Bass of Spain" Antonio Stradivari cello.

"I am so very grateful to David Fulton for lending me his priceless cello to record the Bach Suites," Tsang says. "As every cellist knows, this set of Suites represents the pinnacle of our solo literature, and the Bass of Spain allowed me total freedom to express the widest possible range of emotions in these monumental works. It's incredible to think that Strad made this instrument in the same decade that Bach crafted these masterpieces."

The complete set of Six Suites for Violoncello Solo, composed by Bach between 1717 and 1723, weren't heard in public until the legendary Pablo Casals performed and recorded them two centuries later. The Cello Suites have since become an indispensable part of the cello literature, adapted for numerous other instruments and widely considered to be amongst the greatest and most influential works of Bach's considerable musical output.

Bion Tsang:

Dvorak, Enescu Cello Concertos w/RSNO, Scott Yoo

A new recording from Sony Classical pairs two concertos for cello and orchestra in the hands of award-winning cellist Bion Tsang with conductor Scott Yoo and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.  Produced by Michael Fine, Bion Tsang: Dvorák/Enescu Cello Concertos puts an exclamation point on the cellist's intrepid four-decade career. 

Tsang gave the United States premiere of George Enescu's Symphonie Concertante, Op. 8, with the American Symphony Orchestra at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, in 2000.  He immediately fell in love with the work, finding in it many similarities to his long-time favorite concerto, the much-celebrated Dvorák b minor, Op. 104.  "Each of these concertos takes the listener on an epic journey," says Tsang. "They are both gloriously lush and dramatic in their orchestration, and the cello sings above this backdrop with intense emotion. In both pieces, I feel there are distinct depictions of longing, searching, struggle, and finally triumph."