New Release

Per Nørgård
Paul Ruders

WORKS FOR SOLO CELLO

“The American cellist brings much to the works here but the most admirable quality of all is an extreme clarity that suits the music. She manages to maintain it even when her lone cello is wearing multiple masks at once.”
“The accuracy of her intonation, here and everywhere, is uncanny”
Gramophone (April 2021)

"All this Wilhelmina Smith captures in this impressive and atmospheric recording, sculpting each rhythmic articulation with verve, to bring personality and contrast to each work."
"Smith proves that contemporary musical vernacular, in all its guises, is totally under her skin.”
The STRAD (March 2021)

"Wilhelmina Smith’s lustrous sonority, wide dynamic range, and impeccable control in the highest registers bring forth the music’s potential for color and drama.”
Classics Today (2021)

"It is an impressive follow-up to her Ondine recording of Salonen and Saariaho.” "Which makes Smith’s suc cess in making music so precisely calculated sound as if it had been written that way all the more remarkable.”
Strings Magazine (March 2021)

Featured Album

Esa-Pekka Salonen
Kaija Saariaho

WORKS FOR SOLO CELLO

"American cellist Wilhelmina Smith has studied every centimetre of the score and unleashes its drama in a brilliantly characterised rendition... Once again Smith delivers another mesmerising performance and emerges as a consummate communicator of the new virtuosity.”
The STRAD (June 2019)

"Smith exudes seemingly effortless control through its virtuoso demands...”
BBC Music (June 2019)

"Smith plays everything here with captivating expression; her sound has both bold lustre and gossamer delicacy."
Gramophone

In the News

“The American cellist brings much to the works here but the most admirable quality of all is an extreme clarity that suits the music. She manages to maintain it even when her lone cello is wearing multiple masks at once.” Read more

Contemporary Solo Cello Masterworks From Two “Great Danes”

Artistic Quality: 9
Sound Quality: 10

“Wilhelmina Smith’s lustrous sonority, wide dynamic range, and impeccable control in the highest registers bring forth the music’s potential for color and drama.” Read more

5 Minutes That Will Make You Love the Cello
We asked Yo-Yo Ma, John Williams, Andrew Lloyd Webber and others to pick the music that moves them. Listen to their choices.
[...]
Joshua Barone, Times music critic
It’s often said that the cello resembles the human voice — in range and in timbre. But its sonic possibilities are so much vaster. For example, Kaija Saariaho’s “Sept Papillons,” a 2000 set of solo miniatures played here by Wilhelmina Smith, treats cello technique as metaphor: Harmonics and “sul ponticello” bow movements evoke the butterflies of the title, soft-spoken and fluttering.
[...]
Read more