Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op 85

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Cello Concerto in E minor, op 85 A concerto for solo cello and full orchestra in four movements: 1 - Adagio/Moderato; 2 - Lento/Allegro molto; 3 - Adagio; 4 - Allegro/Moderato/Allegro, ma non troppo. Approximate Length: 30 minutes First Performance: Date: 27 October 1919 Venue: Queen's Hall, London Conductor: the composer Soloist: Felix Salmond Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra Dedicated to: Sir Sidney and Lady Frances Colvin, friends of the Elgars Two concertos for the cello are performed more often than any others. One is by Antonin Dvorak, an epic work brimming with melodies and embracing a wide range of emotion. The other is Elgar's: intimate, highly-concentrated and unlike any other ever written for the instrument. Pablo Casals, Paul Tortelier, Jacqueline du Pré and Yo-Yo Ma are among the cellists who have made landmark recordings of Elgar's concerto, and memorable new interpretations continue to appear. The concerto may be the work of Elgar's with the most universal appeal, but, paradoxically, it is the work of his that is most rooted in a specific moment in time. Elgar wrote the concerto in 1919, just after the Great War. Appalled and disillusioned by the suffering caused by the war, he realized that life in Europe would never be the same after such destruction. His first reaction had been to withdraw from composition, and he wrote very little music during the war's first four years. Then, over a period of twelve months - from August of 1918 to the following August - Elgar poured his feelings into four works that rank among the finest Elgar at work in Severn House in 1919, the year in which he composed the he ever composed. The first three were chamber concerto works in which he developed a new musical voice, more concise and subdued than his previous one. The fourth work was the Cello Concerto, Elgar's lament for a lost world. A complete guide to Elgar's Cello Concerto can be found by visiting the following pages. .

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Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85 i. Adagio; Moderato ii. Lento; Allegro molto iii. Adagio iv. Allegro; Moderato; Allegro, ma non troppo; Poco più lento; Adagio Edward Elgar enjoys a curious reputation in his own country. To many, he is the composer of overtly nationalistic music such as Pomp and Circumstance, the musical incarnation of Edwardian imperialism. Although early works such as the Enigma Variations and Imperial March garnered him praise and fame, it is his later works from 1918-1919 that are much more autobiographical in content – none more so than the Cello Concerto in E minor. The Concerto was mostly composed between 1918 and 1919 at Brinkwells, a cottage in the Sussex woods where he wrote three other chamber works – the Violin Sonata, String Quartet and Piano Quintet. Like these other Brinkwells compositions, the Cello Concerto is a deeply introspective work which reveals much about the composer’s state of mind: an aging artist concerned about his waning popularity, his wife’s failing health, and reflecting on the horrors of the First World War. Despite a grossly under-rehearsed première at the Queen’s Hall on 27 October 1919, it has since been established as perhaps the finest cello concerto in the repertoire, alongside Dvořák’s, and the only work of Elgar’s to enjoy regular performances outside the English-speaking world. The Cello Concerto is an emotionally draining work not only for the players but also the listener, its overwhelming mood one of melancholy and autumnal world-weariness. The first movement opens with a declamatory, grandiose statement by the soloist leading, in almost improvisatory style, into a lilting melody; there is a wistfully lyrical middle section before the opening melody returns.
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