Peter Wispelwey
"Britten: Suites for Cello" (CD)

This is one of the few SACDs that I own. I'm ambivalent about that, since SACDs were intended to be the next evolutionary step in music-listening.  And they were.  A sampler disc included in an issue of Rolling Stone had me drooling over Norah Jones and Aerosmith tracks through my crummy Aiwa.  I thought it sounded goooood.

But iTunes happened before the public began upgrading to SACD players in their homes.  Ironically, culturally, we made a backwards step fidelity-wise.

But let's talk about this album.  Britten dedicated his three suites for solo cello to Mstislav Rostropovich and were composed between 1965 to 1971.
I'm not sure where these fall on the "hard-o-meter" for cellists, but I'm very grateful that Britten wrote these works as they demonstrate the color palette and technical prowess of the instrument.
Mr. Wispelwey gives beautiful performances here, but for an album of solo cello music, you'd hardly expect anything less.