Cello Concerto (Elgar)
In 1900 the cellist of the Brodsky Quartet, Carl Fuchs [de], had obtained the composer's agreement to write something for the cello one day.
[2] The composer's biographer Jerrold Northrop Moore speculates that Elgar may have recalled the promise when planning a new concerto in 1919.
[13] The American premiere of the concerto was given in Carnegie Hall, New York on 21 November 1922 by Jean Gerardy with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Leopold Stokowski.
[16] The Sydney Morning Herald found the work original, musicianly and an admirable addition to the cello repertoire, but "without the qualities that kindle the imagination of the listener".
In 1955 the authors of The Record Guide wrote of "the irresistible appeal of the Cello Concerto", although "the task of interpreting the solo is extremely difficult", requiring "a reserved dignity that is peculiarly English".
[18] By 1967, according to the critic Edward Greenfield, Jacqueline du Pré was "convincing audiences from New York to Moscow that Elgar is – on occasion at least – exportable".
[7] This work is scored for solo cello, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets in A, 2 bassoons, 4 horns in F, 2 trumpets in C, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, and strings.
The orchestra reiterates, and the cello presents the theme a final time before moving directly into a lyrical E major middle section.
This flows into a reiteration of the main theme of the fourth movement, with tension building until the final three chords, which close the piece.
[23] A key recording was made in 1965 by EMI, with British cellist Jacqueline du Pré as soloist and the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir John Barbirolli.
[25] Since then there have been more than seventy recordings issued, with soloists including in the 1960s Pierre Fournier and Mstislav Rostropovich, in the 1970s Paul Tortelier, in the 1980s Lynn Harrell, Heinrich Schiff, Yo-Yo Ma and Steven Isserlis, in the 1990s Mischa Maisky, János Starker, Pieter Wispelwey and Truls Mørk, in the 2000s Anne Gastinel and Raphael Wallfisch, and later Sol Gabetta, Paul Watkins, Antonio Meneses and Sheku Kanneh-Mason.
For BBC Music Magazine Jerrold Northrop Moore chose this as the finest version to date and it won a Brit Award for "Best Classical Recording" of 1985.
[27] The BBC Radio 3 feature "Building a Library" has presented comparative reviews of all available versions of the concerto on three occasions.
Other recordings commended by both the BBC and The Penguin Guide are by Beatrice Harrison (1928);[28] Stephen Isserlis (1988);[29] Yo-Yo Ma (1985) and Truls Mørk (1999).
[30][31] The German periodical Fono Forum in a 2022 discographic survey of the work recommends recordings featuring as soloists Harrison, du Pré, Tortelier, Robert Cohen, Michaela Fukačová, Daniel Müller-Schott and Watkins.
