Top 10 Favorite Cello Concerti

[kyjo]

In no particular order:

1. Dvorak
2. Elgar
3. Shostakovich 1 (with 2 running a very close second)
4. Prokofiev: Sinfonia Concertante
5. Finzi
6. Miaskovsky
7. Caplet: Epiphanie
8. Martinu 2 (with 1 running a very close second)
9. Walton
10. Bridge: Oration (Concerto Elegiaco)

Honorable mentions: Kabalevsky 2, Englund, Khachaturian, Linde, Rozsa, Kokkonen, Bortkiewicz (only on YT; cries out for a CD recording!), Bloch: Schelomo, Barber, Atterberg

As you can see from my list, you are welcome to include works for cello and orchestra besides concertos!

[Brian]

This time I actually can rank them in order of choice!

1. Dvorak
2. Weinberg
3. Saint-Saens No. 1
4. Elgar
5. C. Stamitz No. 2
6. Shostakovich No. 1
7. Finzi
8. Khachaturian
9. CPE Bach, pick any one of the three
10. Leshnoff

Honorable mentions: the other two by CPE Bach, Haydn's pair, plus a bunch of Vivaldi concertos. I need to relisten to the Englund work.

Discussion
The Dvorak is my top choice and that's easy. After that comes Mieczyslaw Weinberg's concerto, a work I've bored everybody on GMG to tears by talking about ad nauseam for three years. To me, lyricism, drama, unforgettable melodies, and high emotion don't get any more bare or heart-on-sleeve, and what it lacks in subtlety it has in immediacy and sincerity. I can't think of another work in any medium that more urgently needs to become part of the mainstream concert-hall "pops" repertoire.

Carl Stamitz and CPE Bach wrote some of the best cello concertos of the 1700s, and I marginally prefer them to Haydn's. Stamitz's Second has the most gorgeous slow movement in any concerto pre-Dvorak, at least according to me. The Khachaturian concerto I'm such a fan of that a friend who's now a professional cellist adopted it into her repertoire at my urging and played it in a conservatory competition. But the weirdest choice of all may be Jonathan Leshnoff's concerto, which premiered earlier in 2013. It's available as a download from the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, who commissioned the work and recorded the debut concerts.

Here's what I wrote in my review of the Leshnoff piece (scroll way down or search-in-page "Leshnoff" for my review of the rest of the album):

"Jonathan Leshnoff's Cello Concerto is presented here in the live performances which were its world premiere. It's a piece I'd love to see enter the repertoire, and would like to hear live: the work begins with a long slow movement with a dark Sibelian glow, proceeds to a long fast movement, and then ends with a brief epilogue bringing the music to a place of great tranquility. The tonal language has more in common with the romantic era than with any of the last century's avant garde; if you like Moeran, Weinberg, Shostakovich, Sibelius, or the most recent works of Penderecki, for example, turn to this. I prized the combination of lyricism and drama, and the playing of Nina Kotova, whom I'd never heard of but who truly does the composer proud. He was in attendance."

[TheGSMoeller]

Strauss: Don Quixote
Britten: Symphony for Cello and Orchestra
Haydn: Cello Concerto 1
Schnittke: Cello Concerto 2
Elgar: Cello Concerto
Bruch: Kol Nidrei
Shostakovich: Cello Concerto 1
Vivaldi: Cello Concerto RV 419
Glass: Cello Concerto 1
Dvorak: Cello Concerto

[Brahmsian]

Strauss: Don Quixote
Britten: Symphony for Cello and Orchestra
Haydn: Cello Concerto 1
Schnittke: Cello Concerto 2
Elgar: Cello Concerto
Bruch: Kol Nidrei
Shostakovich: Cello Concerto 1
Vivaldi: Cello Concerto RV 419
Glass: Cello Concerto 1
Dvorak: Cello Concerto

Really glad you listed Vivaldi, Greg.  He wrote some fine concerti for cello, that red-headed fellow!

[Mirror Image]

In on particular order:

Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 1
Prokofiev: Sinfonia Concertante
Casella: Cello Concerto
Schnittke: Cello Concerto No. 2
Finzi: Cello Concerto
Elgar: Cello Concerto
Sculthorpe: Cello Dreaming
Barber: Cello Concerto
F. Martin: Cello Concerto
Martinu: Cello Concerto No. 2

[North Star]

No particular order

Dvorak Cello Concerto
Schumann Cello Concerto
Elgar Cello Concerto
Britten Cello Symphony
Finzi Cello Concerto
Shostakovich 1st & 2nd (was great to see no. 2 live with Natalia Gutman)
Prokofiev Symphony Concerto
Martinu Cello Concerto no. 2
Dutilleux Tout un Monde Lointain...

[Mirror Image]

No particular order

Dvorak Cello Concerto
Schumann Cello Concerto
Elgar Cello Concerto
Britten Cello Symphony
Finzi Cello Concerto
Shostakovich 1st & 2nd (was great to see no. 2 live with Natalia Gutman)
Prokofiev Symphony Concerto
Martinu Cello Concerto no. 2
Dutilleux Tout un Monde Lointain...

Thumbs up for the Martinu! A fine work indeed. It was on my list as well.

[North Star]

Thumbs up for the Martinu! A fine work indeed. It was on my list as well.

Absolutely!

Will need to hear these:

Casella: Cello Concerto
Schnittke: Cello Concerto No. 2
Sculthorpe: Cello Dreaming
Barber: Cello Concerto
F. Martin: Cello Concerto

[Karl Henning]

4. Prokofiev: Sinfonia Concertante

Nice to see some love for the Prokofiev Op.125 (and the Bridge)!

[kyjo]

Great to see the Finzi and Martinu CCs getting so much love! Perhaps I should explain the most unusual of my top 10, Andre Caplet's Epiphanie. It is a real shame that Caplet didn't compose more orchestral works because Epiphanie (sort of like a cross between a concerto and a symphonic poem, like similar examples by Berlioz and a certain other composer ) is a masterpiece through and through. Rob Barnett's MusicWeb review of the EMI disc with Epiphanie gives this description of the work (fun to read, as usual with Barnett):

The Caplet Épiphanie stands head and shoulders above the other two works. It is a work of the Twentieth Century both chronologically and in musical essence. Gravitas and fantasy meet in these pages in a way that reaches out towards the Dutilleux concerto. The music peers at you in a sharply detailed focus that partakes of Ravel (Rhapsodie Espagnole not Daphnis) and Frank Bridge (Oration rather than Summer). It was Bridge's Oration (subtitled Concerto Elegiaco) that comes to mind most often. I have played this disc time after time and am still wondering at Épiphanie's resiliently fine and memorable qualities. It is psychologically profound music. Disturbing waves radiate through the music and there are moments, especially towards the end of the Cortège, where Caplet speaks of tortured emotions of a type later explored by Miklós Rózsa in his Jules Dassin films. The final Danse is urgently and darkly jazzy and overhung. The three sections are played without break. Épiphanie was described by the composer as a 'Fresque' and subtitled 'd'après une légende éthiopienne'. It was written only two years before the composer's sudden death as a result of wounds and gas poisoning of the lungs suffered while serving as a poilu during the Great War. I have already mentioned Oration. I detect a very strong spiritual resemblance between this work and Bridge's masterpiece. Both seem driven by a desperately active imagination in which funereal thoughts are to the fore.. That quick-rattling remorseless snare-drum accompaniment, as persistent as the ostinato in Sibelius's Nightride and Sunrise, speaks of bleaker things in the Cadence than the claimed programmatic association: the journey of the Magi to Bethlehem.

Read more: http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2003/Mar03/Xavier_Phillips.htm#ixzz2fUV3syae

Funny that Barnett mentions parallels with Bridge's Oration (which I also included in my top 10), another work every cello enthusiast should hear!

[asin]B00004VR7Q[/asin]

This disc is, unfortunately, out of print (why is it that major record companies always let their most valuable recordings go out of print ), but you can sample a different performance of it on YT: http://youtu.be/xOBFG6UxyAA

[kyjo]

I need to relisten to the Englund work.

Yes, it's a great work. I don't know how I forgot to mention it in my enthusiastic posts about Englund. It's rather like a cross between the Miaskovsky and Prokofiev CCs with an added Nordic chill. Also, kudos for including the Khachaturian on your list. It's a lovely, lyrical work that is quite underrated compared to his piano and violin concertos.

[kyjo]

Will need to hear these:

Surprised you haven't heard the Barber, Karlo! Isserlis and Slatkin deliver a fiery, heartfelt performance on this overall stunning disc:

[asin]B0007INY1W[/asin]

[North Star]

Surprised you haven't heard the Barber, Karlo! Isserlis and Slatkin deliver a fiery, heartfelt performance on this overall stunning disc:

[asin]B0007INY1W[/asin]

Cheers, will check the work on YT, and probably get the disc eventually.

[Daverz]

I think I'm getting burned out on these top 10.

For the Barber, I prefer the recent Bis reording to the RCA.

[Mirror Image]

I think I'm getting burned out on these top 10.

+1

[kyjo]

I think I'm getting burned out on these top 10.

You don't have to participate......

[Mirror Image]

You don't have to participate......

You could actually create a poll, Kyle. You know, change things up a bit.

[kyjo]

You could actually create a poll, Kyle. You know, change things up a bit.

True, but polls only work for certain topics. Threads such as this, which include a variety of options, would not be suitable for polls because I am bound to forget some people's choices.

[Mirror Image]

True, but polls only work for certain topics. Threads such as this, which include a variety of options, would not be suitable for polls because I am bound to forget some people's choices.

But the whole idea of a poll is the pick people's brains and force them to choose from your list. When I create a poll, I usually ignore people's suggestions. After all, you can't be expected to create a poll that's all encompassing. That's just unrealistic.

[kyjo]

But the whole idea of a poll is the pick people's brains and force them to choose from your list. When I create a poll, I usually ignore people's suggestions. After all, you can't be expected to create a poll that's all encompassing. That's just unrealistic.

Good point. I'll be thinking of some ideas for an intense poll .......