Hauser (or
HAUSER, or
Stjepan Hauser) was one half of the
2Cellos duo that made a splash in the early 2010s. He has managed to keep the franchise going through intelligently programmed cello crossover albums that include two made up of famous (and not-so-famous) classical tunes.
Classic II is the second of these and landed on classical best-seller lists when it appeared in 2024. The melodies, all of them in basically the same slow tempo, will mostly be familiar even to the general listeners at whom
Hauser is aiming, but there are a few surprises, like
Kiss the Rain, a composition by the South Korean pianist
Yiruma. This is an intelligent move that may draw in some listeners who might otherwise not have found their way to
Hauser's music. The accompaniments here are by the
London Symphony Orchestra under the baton of
Robert Ziegler, but it is really
Hauser, as producer as well as performer, who shapes the flow of events. Another presence, only minimally credited, is arranger
Robin Smith. He places
Hauser front and center immediately as almost every piece begins, delivering the warm cello bath listeners will be waiting for, but after that, he adds just enough variety in the arrangement to keep things from cloying. The orchestral strings are broken up by wind solos or a piano, and the texture may pour it on or become sparser. Online listeners get a bonus track in the form of the
Adagietto from
Mahler's
Symphony No. 5 in C sharp minor, a piece that fits
Hauser's agenda nicely. "Let the beauty of classical music take over the world,"
Hauser has written on social media in promoting this release. A tall order, to be sure, but within its more modest actual aims, the album succeeds. ~ James Manheim