Theo Verbey – Five Pieces for Violoncello

‘In his final years, Verbey became more and more a composer of
substantial forms with a classical instinct for proportion and with a
neo-tonal character, in both harmony and gesture. These five pieces are not what you’d call substantial (the shortest lasts a minute, the longest less than three). But they are unmistakably neo-tonal in the broadest sense of the word. The brevity of the pieces gives them a breathlessness that Verbey’s longer works absolutely do not have. […]

There is no question that Verbey knew very well how to write for cello, and Swarts doesn’t make me doubt the accuracy of the forms (which, of course, says a lot about her playing) and that the recording is excellent.’