Last week I listened to Gustave Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 (comments HERE) and I forgot to mention how I’d decided upon that selection: I ran a Google search -- I can’t remember exactly what I’d typed in -- and I stumbled upon this article, “10 Pieces of Classical Music That Will 100% Change Your Life," HERE. The Mahler symphony was on the list. I decided to keep with that list this week as I plan to listen to Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto, noted in the article as “one of the most famous concertos of all time.” Hmm. That got to me to thinking. I have three violin concertos on my list of Top 100 Favorite Classical Music Favorites (HERE), but not a single cello concerto or even a work specifically for the cello. I’m not even sure if I could name a cello concerto with which I am familiar. That led me to conduct further Google searches, including one for the “greatest works for the cello,” and those inquiries produced articles HERE, HERE, and HERE among many others. The Dvořák Cello Concerto in B Minor seems to be another celebrated work, so perhaps in some future week I’ll listen to that. For now, I’ll give the Elgar concerto a listen, and my comments and rating will be coming soon. Stay tuned! I have now listened to Elgar's Cello Concerto in E Mino several times. Composed in 1919, the work consists of four movements:
In the version I listened to, the first movement segued into the second and the third movement transitioned to the fourth without pause. As the work was written just after World War I and in response to the destruction in Europe, it is filled with anguish and grief. I did like the concerto -- particularly the emotional and tormented first movement -- but I don’t think this would be a “go to” concerto to listen to on any given day -- just like the Holocaust Museum would not be my choice to visit on any random day. I’d have to be in the right frame of mind and perhaps the day would have to be a bit gray and somber. Of course, i don’t mean to imply that Elgar’s Concerto has anything to do with the Holocaust (since that hadn’t even occurred by 1919); instead, I just mean that the circumstances of the day would have to be suited to the mood and pathos of the piece. Interestingly enough, though, I can listen to Elgar’s “Nimrod,” Variation No. 9 of his Enigma Variations, on any day at any time. “Nimrod” is just as passionate and filled with sorrow, but there’s something more uplifting about that piece, something a little more stately and optimistic. That is not the case with the Cello Concerto which is far more somber. The first movement of the concerto opens with sudden and grief-stricken notes from a solo cello, and soon the orchestra begins a lyrical but mournful tune. This theme plays throughout the movement, and the impassioned, fortissimo restatements are quite moving. The second movement opens with a fast crescendo from the strings followed by pizzicato chords on the cello. The tempo picks up in the allegro section, but the acceleration doesn’t necessarily introduce optimism. Think maybe of this stanza from a poem by Emily Dickinson: The Bustle in a House The Morning after Death Is solemnest of industries Enacted opon Earth – In the case of Elgar’s concerto, though, the bustle comes in the aftermath of war. The slower third movement starts and ends with a lyrical melody, and it flows directly into the final movement. The finale changes tempo and mood several times throughout, but it never seems to offer the degree of promise and fortitude found in “Nimrod.” Near the end of the piece, the cello repeats its initial intonations from the first movement. This flows into a final reiteration of the finale’s main theme, and the orchestra closes with a flourish. I did like Elgar's concerto (I loved the first movement), and I suspect that this piece would, in fact, move to the top of my scale were I to hear it in a live performance and I could connect with the raw emotion and passion of the soloist.
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A New Hope:As the header above says, each week I will listen to a piece of classical music that I've never heard before, and then I will report out what I thought about it. Archives
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