Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 1 vs Cello Concerto No. 2

[Mark]

Ridiculous poll season continues with this one from me, inspired by my just having heard both works and deciding that I'm in the corner of Cello Concerto No. 2.

C'mon, wimps. Pick a side, will ya? 

[Guido]

Yes! Both are superb works of course, but the second is just astonishing. This is a little thing I wrote about it which summarises my feelings on it quite well. It was on an Amazon review actually.

This music is some of the most soul-wrenching, tragic and beautiful music written in the twentieth century. It contains all of what makes Shostakovich such a great composer - pain and struggle, agony, ecstacy, irony, and beauty. It is my favourite work by Shostakovich (and i like Shostakovich ALOT!). As Rostropovich said - Although it is not as startingly virtuosic as the first concerto, its profundity is second to none. In comparison with Rostropovich with the Boston Symphony (on a double disk called 'Great Works for Cello and Orchestra' - highly recommendable in every way) Kliegel's effort pales. I am a cellist and whenever I practice this work, I find myself emotionally exhausted afterwards. 

Truly one of the great works of the great cello concertos and one which has really suffered too much neglect. Technically it is probably more difficult than the first, and it commits that most heinous of concerto crimes that has spelled the relative neglect of so many fine concertos - it finishes quietly - Britten's violin concerto, Walton's cello concerto among others. (Lynn Harrell suggested that he thought the suddenness of the end represents death).

[karlhenning]

They're both great!

[karlhenning]

(Lynn Harrell suggested that he thought the suddenness of the end represents death).

No comment.

(Though, I suppose, that itself stands as a comment.)

[Guido]

Those last three pages - the cello coming in in fourths and slowly winding down and recapitulating the material from the first movement to one final ecstatic climax, and then the bizarre and haunting pizzicato and percussion cadenza like section - just magical.

[karlhenning]

Those last three pages - the cello coming in in fourths and slowly winding down and recapitulating the material from the first movement to one final ecstatic climax, and then the bizare and haunting pizzicato and percussion cadenza like section - just magical.

Truly!

[Mark]

Guido, it'll disgust you, but it was to Kliegel's version that I was listening.

[not edward]

The second, definitely.

While the first is a fine work the second is one of Shostakovich's greatest, even if it's never going to be a crowd-pleaser.

[Guido]

Oh lord - this is her worst recording of major repertoire without a doubt - if you liked it Listen to Rostropovich recorded here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/ROSTROPOVICH-PALYS-GREAT-CELLO-WORKS/dp/B000001GJK/ref=sr_1_1/202-8355540-6495045?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1180654461&sr=8-1
it'll knock your socks off! I take it you read my review of the Kliegel?

The is why GMG makes me happy - so few cellists have actually even heard this work, nor are interested in exploring anywhere outside their standard canon of 12 concertos - Boccherini (arr. Grutz.), Haydn1, Haydn2, Schumann, Saint-Saens1, Lalo, Dvorak, Strauss, Elgar, Bloch, Prokofiev, Shostakovich 1. I love talking to people like you!

(P.S. The Bernstein Meditations recorded on this outstanding bargain Double are also absolutely top notch works. I agree with the review wholeheartedly, but would give the CD 5*!)

[Guido]

P.P.S. I actually think that Kliegel's playing is actually quite good in some recordings. Her Kodaly CDs are great, and her Beethoven is very enjoyable too. Her vibrato and tuning are often quite painful to listen too when she's not right on top of her game (and naxos editing sometimes falls short of perfection in removing any such offending 'flubs')

I seem to remember that DuPre's teacher William Pleeth said of the second that he thought given the chance to hear it most people would actually prefer the second to the first, but just so few people knew about it.

[not edward]

I think one other problem with acceptance of the 2nd concerto is the manner in which its emotional language often is expressing not so much joy or despair, but simple ambivalence. As a result, it can't really be fit into either the heroic or tragic mould--and isn't going to give the audience what it expects.

I remember somewhere reading an article in which Schnittke had said that two of the works of Shostakovich that particularly influenced many composers of his generation were the 2nd cello concerto and the 14th string quartet: I assume it was the ambivalent emotional atmosphere of those works that he was referring to (and I see it reflected strongly in the late works of Denisov, for example).

[BachQ]

They're both great!

Way to promote your thread, Karlos ........ 

[Guido]

I think one other problem with acceptance of the 2nd concerto is the manner in which its emotional language often is expressing not so much joy or despair, but simple ambivalence. As a result, it can't really be fit into either the heroic or tragic mould--and isn't going to give the audience what it expects.

I remember somewhere reading an article in which Schnittke had said that two of the works of Shostakovich that particularly influenced many composers of his generation were the 2nd cello concerto and the 14th string quartet: I assume it was the ambivalent emotional atmosphere of those works that he was referring to (and I see it reflected strongly in the late works of Denisov, for example).

That's very interesting. The pain expressed is almost unbearable in parts, but there is always some relief however brief that follows.

Just as an aside: one of my favourite quriks of the piece is that it was officially first named Second concerto in G major! Similarly the first concerto is officially in Eb major. I always assumed that this was to please the authorities who at one point insisted on as many major as minor pieces, but do you think there might be any other reason for this?

[Steve]

Only Rostropovich for these, of course!

Karl's got the right idea, they're both immeasureably great... so

I've just listened to the 1st, and so, for the moment, it gets the nod. Just wait until I pop in the Second Concerto tomorrow.

[samtrb]

I was looking for the Cello concertos and it is surprising how few artists recorded the second...
This sounds appealing, any comment ?

[Guido]

It's decent enough, but in all honesty it cannot replace Rostropovich's classic recordings (especially the second). Wallfisch is an odd one - His recordings vary from average/good to superb, but live he often plays absolutely appaulingly. Alot of 'safety playing' involved - doing portamento to fascilitate easier shifts rather than where the music demands it, lazy fingerings that aren't always the most musical choice, general milking of slow passages so that they lose their structure and become lumpy. THis is not always of course and he is often also very good live (generally he seems to be better in standard repertoire, but he is known for his exploration of the obscurer corners of the cello repertoire, and this is where the safety playing starts entering.)

But I've gone massively off topic: Generally, there are better performances of all the works on theat double CD, but it is a good release, the playing is very good, and it's useful to have it all cllected together.

[karlhenning]

[not edward]

I guess I should get Slava in the 2nd. I only have Schiff (with Maxim Dmitryevich) in this one...given that I like it almost as much as the Lutoslawski concerto (and I have a serious proliferation of recordings of it) I should be having more than one 2nd.

[Sergeant Rock]

In the pick your seven favorite concertos thread the Second made the cut but in fact I love them both. I don't have any Rostropovich version on CD, just my old records, and I decided to remedy that. I ordered the DG twofer that Guido recommended

Listen to Rostropovich recorded here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/ROSTROPOVICH-PALYS-GREAT-CELLO-WORKS/dp/B000001GJK/ref=sr_1_1/202-8355540-6495045?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1180654461&sr=8-1
it'll knock your socks off! I take it you read my review?

and the First with Ormandy on Sony.

Sarge

[Guido]

Hmm... Can't agree there. Rostropovich is better on just about every level. Kliegel is Ok in the first concerto, but then there are many good versions, but the second concerto is really played very badly - dull, emotionally detatched playing, horrible tone and vibrato etc. etc.