Unsung Romantic Cello Concertos

[Peter1953]

Most of us know the fine cello concertos by Raff and Rubinstein (of course..), but are there other less known romantic cello concertos you recommend? I know those of Dietrich, Gernsheim, Volkmann, and since one day the Schmidt-Kowalski. I can hardly wait for the Bortkiewicz (I have a poor recording, but it proves that his cello concerto is a masterpiece). Anyone familiar with Klengel?

[Mark Thomas]

Dietrich, Gernsheim and Volkmann would have been my first thoughts, so try Röntgen's three on Etcetera. Lovely works. I can also recommend Klughardt's one-movement example (very taughtly put together and gloriously melodic) on Sterling. There's also Vieuxtemps' two lovely late concertos and, a long shot but well worth it if you can track down the CD, Reinecke's. The soloist, Thomas Blees, is fine but the orchestral accompaniment is a tad pedestrian (it's an amateur orchestra). Nonetheless this really fine concerto gets the best performance of all the works on the disk, which includes Raff's First Cello Concerto in a rendition which can't hold  a candle to Müller-Schott on Tudor.

[JimL]

The Reinecke is long overdue for a decent recording with a top-notch soloist and orchestra.  Does anybody know if Hyperion or cpo have it somewhere in the pipeline?

[Peter1953]

Thanks, Mark, for your suggestions. I know the Vieuxtemps very well, but this brings me to the question whether Vieuxtemps is unsung or not? I suppose he's not in the Benelux. BTW, ever heard a more "smashing" coda in any VC than in his 5th?
Well, I suppose I've to give Röntgen a try one day. Hyperion's Romantic Cello Concertos, Vol.1, should present some "sumptuous" cello concertos, but I haven't got this CD. The Dohnányi could be a fine work, just like his PC's.

[TerraEpon]

Just off the top of my head, rather than looking in my database...
Davidov wrote a couple of pretty good ones. I DLed em from eMusic, I think on the CPO label coupled with a known one.
There's also Popper of course, who wrote a lot of great cello music, including at least one concerto.
Might we add Saint-Saens's 2nd here too? It gets soooo overshadowed by the 1st, but it's a wonderful work in its own right.
Also, Dvorak's "1st", though it's only cello and piano -- orchestrated and shortened by someone else. It's a pretty nice piece in either format still.

But most importently, there's Offenbach's Concerto Millitaire. Actually there's a bit of an oddity with this one, as it seems to have two seperate finales, one of which -- supposedly the 'correct' one -- is also known as the "Concerto-Rondo". Actually the whole thing is confusing and the linar notes of none of the three CDs the piece is on shed enough light that I can figure out where the heck the other finale came from.

[JimL]

Davydov (or Davidoff) composed 4 cello concertos, of which the D Major (#3) and E Minor (#4) remain unrecorded.  The first 2 (B Minor and A Minor) have been recorded twice, once on the defunct Olympia label, then again on cpo.  Offenbach's Concerto Militaire has only the first movement orchestrated by him.  The next two movements were orchestrated by someone else, although I believe that the Concerto-Rondo was orchestrated by him but published separately from the rest of the work.  Popper, I believe also composed 4 cello concertos but only one (E Minor, methinks) has been recorded.  However, there are some concertos by Chopin's friend Auguste Franchomme that might be of interest.

[izdawiz]

I'd have to say  Lalo's Cello Concerto is a dark lovely work. And Mabey Emil Hartmann's Cello concerto too. On a more classical tone you will find Josef Rejcha 1752-1795 who's cello concertos are enjoyable. 

[Amphissa]

 
Not sure if it qualifies as unsung, since it has actually been recorded quite a few times, but Myaskovsky's is quite beautiful.

Finzi's cello concerto is interesting as a late Romantic piece.

Khachaturian wrote 2 pieces for cello and orchestra - the Cello Concerto in E minor and the Concerto-Rhapsody in D minor.

Gliere's cello concerto has been overshadowed by his excellent horn concerto -- and rightfully so. But it is worth hearing nonetheless.

[FBerwald]

Lets Not forget Grechaninov's beautiful little cello concerto and Sullivan's Cello Concerto.
There is also a Concerto by Grieg (actually an orchestration of is Cello sonata).... Altough I haven't heard it!
Would love to hear The Cello concerto by Stanford (did he write 1 or more?!!??)

[Syrelius]

The Ernest Moeran concerto is also highly reconmmendable!

[JimL]

Would love to hear The Cello concerto by Stanford (did he write 1 or more?!!??)

Stanford composed only one cello concerto, in D Minor.  I believe it is a student work, or at least a very early one.  It's quite a nice piece, and has been recorded on the Lyrita label with his 3rd PC.

[TerraEpon]

There is also a Concerto by Grieg (actually an orchestration of is Cello sonata).... Altough I haven't heard it!

Whatever it is, the orchestration is by someone else. Grieg's only concertante work is his piano concerto (well, aside from a fragment of another one).

Some others I own that haven't seemed to have been mentioned:
-Atterberg. Great piece though not quite at the level of his symphonies.
-Glazunov, wrote a piece called "Concerto Ballata"
-Rota wrote a pair, that like all his concert works are full of blatent romantic goodness
-Rodrigo wrote "Concierto en Modo Galante", which I believe is a bit more modern than most in this thread, but still nice
-Kabalevsky of course wrote a very nice pair


And a load of smaller pieces for cello and orchestra, too many to list really.

[Ilja]

There is also a Concerto by Grieg (actually an orchestration of is Cello sonata).... Altough I haven't heard it!

Whatever it is, the orchestration is by someone else. Grieg's only concertante work is his piano concerto (well, aside from a fragment of another one).

The 'Grieg' cello concerto received a pretty decent recording in 2003: http://www.musicweb-international.com/classRev/2003/May03/GriegCC.htm

[peter_conole]

Hi all

David Popper composed four cello concertos. All have been recorded, but only no 2 in e minor, op 24 (1880) gets the gongs. And several recordings. Justly so, I think, but concert hall performances in these wicked days - not likely, one would think. Another unsung  - by another Bohemian composer - is Antonin Vranicky's d minor concerto of around 1805-1810. A powerful, passionate work of the era, with a lot of melodic invention - gave me a start when I first heard it.

But Peter 1953, do tell more about the Schmidt-Kowalski concerto. Never heard of the composer. Date? Recording?

regards
Peter

[FBerwald]

What about the pair of Cello concertos by Victor Herbert? The second is said to have impressed Dvorak!!!!