Here is our selection of the greatest pieces ever written for cello and orchestra. Do you agree?
Unlike its smaller cousin the violin, the cello’s lower register has to fight a little harder to be heard above the sound of a mighty symphony orchestra.
However, the instrument’s gorgeous, soulful sound has still proven irresistible to composers, who have valiantly taken up the challenge with some glorious results.
Here are ten of the very best concertos written for cello and orchestra…
The best cello concertos of all time
Elgar: Cello Concerto
Perhaps the most famous of all works for the cello, and immortalised in the dramatic, highly charged performances of Jacqueline du Pré, Elgar’s Cello Concerto was composed following the First World War. Contemplative and melancholic, the four-movement work was first recorded by Beatrice Harrison under the composer himself, but it was not until Du Pré’s 1965 recording with the London Symphony Orchestra under Sir John Barbirolli that the work found popularity.
It has since been recorded and performed in concert by most of the world’s leading cellists – though Mstislav Rostropovich stopped performing the concerto on hearing Du Pré’s recording, saying: ‘My pupil, Jacqueline du Pré, played it much better than I.’ And indeed, we put du Pré’s recording with the London Symphony Orchestra and John Barbirolli top of our list of Elgar Cello Concerto best recordings.
Elgar Cello Concerto: Recommended recording
du Pré / London Symphony Orchestra / John Barbirolli
Dvořák: Cello Concerto
One of the most performed cello concertos (alongside the Elgar, above), this is one of two highly successful works composed by Dvořák during his time in the US (the other being the ‘New World’ Symphony). The work was intended for his friend Hanuš Wihan, but was premiered in London by Leo Stern in 1896.
A large, tuneful, Romantic work, scored for full symphony orchestra, the concerto is infused with a sense of sadness and loss, not only for Dvořák’s Czech homeland, but also for his sister-in-law Josefina, who was dying at the time of its composition, and to whom Dvořák had proposed before being rejected and turning instead to her sister Anna. Upon hearing the work, Dvořák’s mentor Brahms is reported to have said: ‘If I had known that it was possible to compose such a concerto for the cello, I would have tried it myself!’
Dvořák Cello Concerto: Recommended recording
Alisa Weilerstein / Czech Philharmonic / Jiří Bělohlávek
Haydn: Cello Concerto No. 1
Composed in the early 1760s, Haydn’s First Cello Concerto was lost for two hundred years until its rediscovery in the 1961. One of the great Classical cello works, the three-movement concerto is actually rooted in the Baroque concerto form of Bach with its orchestral ritornellos and single-themed movements – but it pushes this structure to the limits with a seemingly boundless capacity for secondary ideas.
Full of virtuosity, from playing at the top of the fingerboard, to dashing runs and quick changes of register, it’s been a a guaranteed crowd pleaser since its rediscovery some 60 years ago.
Haydn Cello Concerto No. 1: Recommended recording
Steven Isserlis / Chamber Orchestra of Europe / Roger Norrington
Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 2
Shostakovich wrote both his cello concertos for the great Mstislav Rostropovich, who premiered this second work in Moscow in 1966 for the composer’s 60th birthday. The three-movement work is generally thought to signify the beginning of Shostakovich’s late style.
More subdued than the bombastic First Concerto, the dark and dramatic Second defies expectations with a quiet, brooding introduction for the soloist and two large outer movements sandwiching a brief scherzo. Scored for a small orchestra, Shostakovich wrote of the work that it could also have been named ‘the Fourteenth Symphony with a solo cello part’.
Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 2: Recommended recording
Rostropovich / Prague Symphony Orchestra / Svetlanov
Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto No. 1
Composed when Saint-Saëns was 37 years old, the work was first performed in January 1873 at the Paris Conservatoire. Rather than the standard three-movement structure, the concerto was instead composed as a single movement in three sections that share related ideas.
The turbulent opening, in which the soloist states the theme rather than following an orchestra introduction, gives way to a muted minuet with cello cadenza before the opening statement reappears followed by several new themes. A highly virtuosic work, in which the soloist is always centre stage, the concerto is a particularly exciting vehicle for leading cellists wanting to showcase their technique and musical range.
Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto No. 2: Recommended recording
Wispelwey / Flanders Symphony Orchestra / Seikyo Kim
Schumann: Cello Concerto
Completed over a period of just two short weeks in 1850, this singular work was premiered in April 1860, four years after Schumann’s death. The concerto is characterised by a lengthy exposition and an intensely lyrical second movement, and is held together by recurring thematic material that is developed throughout.
Despite this, the work explores a range of moods and charts a complex emotional journey. Despite its inherent difficulty, the concerto avoids showy virtuosic display, as Schumann famously declared, ‘I cannot write a concerto for the virtuosos. I must try for something else.’
Schumann Cello Concerto: Recommended recording
Maisky / Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
Bruch: Kol Nidrei
Not strictly a cello concerto, this dramatic work for cello and orchestra earns a place in our list due to its ubiquity on concert stages around the world. Bruch, who was not Jewish but rather a Protestant, composed a series of variations on two main Jewish folk themes in his 1880 work.
‘Even though I am a Protestant, as an artist I deeply felt the outstanding beauty of these melodies and therefore I gladly spread them through my arrangement,’ he wrote in a letter.
Bruch Kol Nidrei: Recommended recording
du Pré / Israel Philharmonic Orchestra / Barenboim
Tchaikovsky: Variations on a Rococo Theme
The second non-concerto on our list also earns its place through sheer popularity with both soloists and audiences – and also because it’s the closet work to a cello concerto that Tchaikovsky composed. The piece is Classical in style and the Rococo theme is actually an original tune composed in the late Baroque style.
The work was premiered by Wilhelm Fitzenhagen, a colleague of Tchaikovsky’s at the Moscow Conservatory, in 1877. Comprising a theme and eight variations, the work features no orchestral interludes, meaning the soloist performs continuously without breaks. Also a challenge is the work’s range – mostly performed at the upper end of the cellist’s register in the difficult thumb position.
Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations: Recommended recording
Gautier Capuçon / Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra / Gergiev
Walton: Cello Concerto
The third of Walton’s concertos for solo strings (following the 1929 Viola Concerto and 1939 Violin Concerto), his Cello Concerto was composed in 1956 and premiered by Gregor Piatigorsky, who worked closely with Walton during the composition process.
Considered by some to be old-fashioned for its time, the concerto is certainly warm and tuneful, but it nevertheless deviates from the standard Romantic pattern of a fast opening movement followed by a slow middle movement – instead the opening is more expressive, followed by a brisk central scherzo. The third movement consists of a theme and four related improvisations, followed by a lengthy coda.
Walton Cello Concerto: Recommended recording
Piatigorsky / Boston Symphony Orchestra / Munch
Lutosławski: Cello Concerto
Premiered in London in 1970 by Rostropovich, this is one of Lutosławski’s most celebrated works. A continuous four-movement piece, scored for large orchestra, it consists of multiple musical ideas which are combined with impressive economy to form a complex tapestry of sound.
Opening, rather unusually, with unaccompanied cello, the orchestra gradually enters the fray by way of trumpets, followed by the brass section and percussion.
Lutosławski Cello Concerto: Recommended recording
Rafał Kwiatkowski / Warsaw Philharmonic / Wit