Month: October 2018

“… Jonah Ellsworth, the soloist in the concerto, brought total concentration to an intense and warmly inflected performance. Who can forget his fine appearance in February of last year in Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with the Boston Phil in Sanders? … ”

“… Ellsworth takes charge from the very first note. His sound is rich, and richly varied. He shows hair-trigger reflexes in matters of color, dynamic, phrasing, and attack, yet he never forces or reaches for effect. From the midst of passages for the full orchestra, he takes flight like an eagle. … ”

“The second piece, Schumann’s cello concerto in A minor, featured soloist Jonah Ellsworth, a young, world-class virtuoso of remarkable gifts. Ellsworth leaned into the music so quickly and thoroughly that he seemed inside Schumann’s intentions, however evanescently rational those might have been. Schumann revised the piece several times in an asylum before madness shortly consumed him. There was melting poignancy to Ellsworth’s playing of the tender second movement and wonderful energy to the conclusion.”