5 Classical Music Albums You Can Listen to Right Now

Antonín Kraft (1749-1820) was one of the notable cellists of his time, and among the first players of works by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. He published only a small amount of his own music, and it places his instrument front and center — including the concerto in C, which is given an irresistible performance on this album.

Written around the turn of the 19th century, the piece harks back to the style of a few decades earlier, but without any staleness. The first movement is Allegro aperto (“fast and open”), a characteristic tempo marking of Mozart’s that suggests dashing good cheer, a quality captured by the crisp, headlong playing of the cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras and Ensemble Resonanz, led by Riccardo Minasi. The Andante is graceful, and the finale — a “Rondo alla Cosacca” with an elegant cast over its folkish robustness — is a hearty showcase for Queyras’s rich tone and easy virtuosity, down to the wittily understated ending.

Queyras, Minasi and Resonanz previously recorded two of C.P.E. Bach’s mid-18th-century cello concertos; the third is included on the new disc, and here has a ruminative Adagio between vibrant outer movements, and tight unity between soloist and ensemble throughout. But the revelation here is Kraft.

ZACHARY WOOLFE