Santiago Cañón-Valencia and Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie - Haydn Cello Concerto n.1 in C major

 Santiago Canon Valencia Haydn performance link

Santiago Canon Valencia is a special cellist. Out of all the great modern cellists (ex. Zlatomir Fung, Brannon Cho, Kian Soltani, etc) I think he by far has the most unique technique. I think to his technique there are some incredible, great aspects to it, however there are also some negatives. Before we get into an analysis of his performance of the Haydn Cello Concerto at the 2017 Queen Elisabeth Cello Competition, I believe we must take a look at his technique.

Firstly, when one looks at Santi's technique, what is usually most striking is his bow grip. 

                                                        I have so many questions...

Santi's bow grip is incredibly unique, I really have not seen anything identical to it. It is the cause behind Santiago's signature thin, penetrating sound. His Haydn and other baroque work are extremely good because of this; there is no huge, deep sound, however, which leads to his other works (in Dvorak for example) to be a little unfitting. 

His left hand is absolutely miraculous. Despite having a rather simple, one-dimensional vibrato, his virtuosic abilities with the left hand in some aspects rivals even Rostropovich. His works in Piatti, Paganini, and others completely astonish me. Apparently, as a young student his first teacher made him follow a whopping two hour long warm-up book, consisting of all sorts of scales and double stop activities, which I believe would have obviously led to Santiago's extreme left hand. This sort of left hand development, was incredibly important in his incredible performances of Haydn as there is nothing more important in Haydn as perfect intonation, cleanliness, and simplicity. 

In the first movement, Santi opens up the concerto with beautifully light c major chord; very in line with how Haydn C is played today, compared to the more brutal forte that it was played in when rediscovered in the 1960s (played by the likes of Rostropovich, Du Pre, etc). I personally love the way he plays all his double stops and chords, it is incredibly clean and fluttery; I personally think it is very in line with the ultra classical style. His intonation is obviously perfect as well, making it a very comforting listen (for all three movements). His vibrato is also very fitting as well, being totally un-Romantic and providing a rather fresh embellishment to the overall music. His cadenza (that he wrote himself), is super fun and fitting with the style, simply providing a wondrous break of extravagant virtuosic display (honestly one of my favorite Haydn C cadenzas).

The second movement is pretty good as well. It's definitely his weakest out of the three, but I don't blame him for that as his strengths lie usually with more technically demanding, virtuoso pieces. I usually don't care for his legato and his more 'singing' pieces, however I found Santi's rendition of the second movement to be wonderfully light and clear as the other movements, which I found to be good. His simple vibrato is also very well used here. Overall not much to say for this movement, however I must also mention that his cadenza here as well is quite beautiful and simple as well. 

The third movement is my absolute favorite from him here. He really stands out from other Haydn C performances due to how intense and clean it is; many of the greatest cellists of all time have extremely messy, technically dirty interpretations of the third movement of Haydn but not Santiago. His beautifully fluttery spicatto is so elegant and light here, every bow stroke sounds like little marbles rolling or something. The orchestra also accompanies very well here, under the direction of Frank Braley, and never falls behind or speeds in front of Santi. Overall, I love how he keeps great energy and pace in the third movement, and is honestly just very satisfying and exciting to listen to. 

                                                         Frank Braley

All in all, this performance of Haydn C is a classic, and a must listen to for anyone interested in Santiago Canon Valencia's music.