# Your Top 10 Favorite Cello Concertos from 20th Century.



## Andante Largo (Apr 23, 2020)

As in the title.

My top 10 favorite cello concertos are:

Saint-Saëns - Cello Concerto No. 2 in D minor, Op. 119 (1902)
Gernsheim - Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 78 (1907)
Röntgen - Cello Concerto No. 2 in G minor (1909)
Delius - Cello Concerto (1921)
Graener - Cello Concerto, Op. 78 (1928)
Röntgen - Cello Concerto No. 3 in F-sharp minor (1928)
Castelnuovo-Tedesco - Cello Concerto in F major, Op. 72 (1933)
Howells - Cello Concerto (1936)
Wolf-Ferrari - Cello Concerto Op. 21 'Invocazione' (1945)
Finzi - Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. 40 (1955)


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## Fabulin (Jun 10, 2019)

Admittedly I don't know that many, so instead I would like to recommend three that are not on your list:

Korngold - Cello Concerto Op. 37 (1946)
Villa-Lobos - Cello Concerto No. 2 W516 (1953)
Rózsa - Cello Concerto Op. 32 (1967)


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

No particular order:

Walton
Shosty 1
Shosty 2
Prokofiev - Symphony-Concerto
Weinberg
Myaskovsky
Finzi
Atterberg
Schnittke 1
Schnittke 2


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

Not all titled as cello concerto but are written for cello and orchestra - and more than ten

Elliott Carter
Krzysztof Meyer 1 & 2
Leonard Bernstein - Three Meditations from Mass for cello and orchestra
Othmar Schoeck
Pascal Dusapin - "Celo" & "Outscape" 
Morton Feldman - Cello and Orchestra
*Nico Muhly*
*Tigran Mansurian* 1-4
Per Nørgård - Between - Cello Concerto 1; Remembering a Child; Momentum - Cello Concerto 2
Salvatore Sciarrino - Variazioni ; Sui poemi concentrici I

Charles Wuorinen - Chamber concerto for cello and ten instruments; Five 
Thomas Adès - Lieux retrouvés 
Kalevi Aho 1 & 2
Hans Abrahamsen - Lied in Fall
Matthias Pintscher - La Metamorfosi di Narciso; Reflections on Narcissus; Un despertar
Wolfgang Rihm - Monodram; Styx und Lethe; Konzert in einem Satz
Grażyna Bacewicz 1 & 2
Erkki-Sven Tüür
Benjamin Britten
Peter Eötvös - Cello Concerto Grosso

Kaija Saariaho - Amers; Notes on Light
Dai Fujikura
Georg Friedrich Haas - Konzert für Violoncello und Orchester
Jonathan Harvey
Toshio Hosokawa
Ernst Krenek 1 & 2
Magnus Lindberg 1 & 2
Einojuhani Rautavaara 1 & 2

If you don't know the Muhly, it is fantastic and #2 by Tigran Mansurian is really good. He's written 4 but I've only found one on YT. I like all the music of his I've heard and would like to hear the other 3.


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## calvinpv (Apr 20, 2015)

SanAntone said:


> Not all titled as cello concerto but are written for cello and orchestra - and more than ten
> 
> Elliott Carter
> Krzysztof Meyer 1 & 2
> ...


Glad you left off the Dutilleux, Chin, and Lutoslawski. As great as those three are, I think they overshadow many of the ones you mention (though I don't know many of these myself).

I recently encountered the name Nico Muhly elsewhere and seeing you mention his name a couple times the past few days, I'll definitely have to check him out.

What do you think of van der Aa's Up Close?


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Am I the only person on TC who likes the Elgar Concerto?


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## MusicSybarite (Aug 17, 2017)

Pizzetti
Casella
Finzi
Shostakovich 1
Lutoslawski
Schnittke 1
Martinu 2
Honegger
Kabalevsky 2
Linde

I've never been a fan of Elgar's. I remain unconvinced by it.

Also worth mentioning: Weinberg, Saygun, Khachaturian, Walton, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Moeran, Gulda (this is hilarious)


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

wkasimer said:


> Am I the only person on TC who likes the Elgar Concerto?


No. ..........................


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

calvinpv said:


> Glad you left off the Dutilleux, Chin, and Lutoslawski. As great as those three are, I think they overshadow many of the ones you mention (though I don't know many of these myself).


Aside from the Carter concerto, I purposely wanted to post some that may not be that well known.



> I recently encountered the name Nico Muhly elsewhere and seeing you mention his name a couple times the past few days, I'll definitely have to check him out.


He can be hit or miss, but I have found some of what he's done absolutely wonderful. It gives me hope for the future of CM when so many of the younger composers doing work like his. HIs cello concerto is one of his best works, IMO.



> What do you think of van der Aa's Up Close?


After listening to the first few minutes of it, I like what I've heard - thanks for letting me know about it.


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## HenryPenfold (Apr 29, 2018)

1. Walton



2.Lutoslawski
3.DSCH 1
4.Bliss
5.Elgar
6.Schnittke 1
7. Schnittke 2
8. Penderecki 2

To be continued ..........


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Schnittke No.1
Ligeti
Dutilleux
Honegger
Lutoslawski
Ginastera No.2
Shostakovich No.2
Ohana


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

Einar Englund's 1981 Concerto for 12 cellos
Arne Nordheim's 1982 Tenebrae
Maurice Ohana's 1990 Cello Concerto No.2 "In Dark and Blue"
Isang Yun's 1976 Concerto for Cello and Orchestra
Luigi Dallapiccola's 1960 Dialoghi for Cello and Orchestra
Aarre Merikanto's 1926 Konzertstück
André Jolivet's Concerto pour violoncelle et orchestre No.s 1 ('62) & 2 ('66)
André Caplet's 1923 Épiphanie, fresque pour violoncelle et orchestre
Tadeusz Baird's 1978 Scenes for cello, harp & orchestra
Alexandre Tansman's 1963 Cello Concerto


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## Kilgore Trout (Feb 26, 2014)

SanAntone said:


> Thomas Adès - Lieux retrouvés


Lieux retrouvés is for cello and piano. Is there an orchestrated version?


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

Kilgore Trout said:


> Lieux retrouvés is for cello and piano. Is there an orchestrated version?


Here is the entry on Adès' works list ;

Concertante 2016 Lieux Retrouvés for cello and small orchestra


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## mikeh375 (Sep 7, 2017)

Kilgore Trout said:


> Lieux retrouvés is for cello and piano. Is there an orchestrated version?


Did you read the anecdote Stephen Isserlis tells about his first encounter with this work?
He told Ades before the premier (piano and cello version), that he "couldn't and wouldn't play it". He said it is the hardest piece he has ever tackled. Ades said it was no-one's fault and someone else would have to give the first performance. Isserlis determined to play it after that and subsequently did so.

I have their recording and score and I still struggle to grasp initially some of Ades' rhythmic wizardry. In the 3rd mvt. the cello has the highest fingered note in the canon...that of a high, treble clef, _six ledger_ line E...talk about being up in the rafters, that's in outer space. That particular mvt is very beautiful and very simple and yet more evidence of heritage and mastery from a contemporary composer to assuage the naysayers scepticism in these matters.


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Rodrigo's cello concerto is my favorite.


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## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

No particular order, though I might put the Finzi second only to Dvorak as my second favorite in the genre of all time. Like others, I have never been able to get into the Elgar concerto. 

Martinu 1
Bax
Dutilleux
Shostakovich 1 and 2
Honegger
Myaskovsky
Finzi
Moeran
Atterberg


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## kyjo (Jan 1, 2018)

In some sort of order:

Finzi
Atterberg
Weinberg
Walton
Honegger
Barber
Bridge (_Oration_)
Kabalevsky 2
Shostakovich 2
Pizzetti


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

*Aram Khachaturian*, Cell Concerto in E minor (1946)


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Moeran
Finzi
Bax
Shostakovich 1
Shostakovich 2
Myaskovsky
Elgar

These seven stand out for me. After that if I would list 3, I could just as easily pick 3 or more others.


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## GucciManeIsTheNewWebern (Jul 29, 2020)

I gotta listen to this Finzi concerto sometime. Posters on here always talk it up


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

I don't know about top 10 - I feel it would be a frustrating task to try to compile such a list - but Lutoslawski's must be there. It is one of the greatest concertos of the century or ever!


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## HenryPenfold (Apr 29, 2018)

HenryPenfold said:


> 1. Walton
> 
> 2.Lutoslawski
> 3.DSCH 1
> ...


Bax

............


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## haziz (Sep 15, 2017)

1. Elgar - Cello Concerto





2. Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1
...................


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## GucciManeIsTheNewWebern (Jul 29, 2020)

HenryPenfold said:


> Bax
> 
> ............


The Bax concerto is super underrated. It took a couple listens for it to click with me but it's truly fantasric


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## mikeh375 (Sep 7, 2017)

GucciManeIsTheNewWebern said:


> The Bax concerto is super underrated. It took a couple listens for it to click with me but it's truly fantasric


+1.....................................


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## mikeh375 (Sep 7, 2017)

calvinpv said:


> Glad you left off the Dutilleux, Chin, and Lutoslawski. As great as those three are, I think they overshadow many of the ones you mention (though I don't know many of these myself).
> 
> I recently encountered the name Nico Muhly elsewhere and seeing you mention his name a couple times the past few days, I'll definitely have to check him out.
> 
> What do you think of van der Aa's Up Close?


Marvellous work musically speaking, utterly compelling and even gorgeous in places too. Thnx calvinpv


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## GucciManeIsTheNewWebern (Jul 29, 2020)

mikeh375 said:


> +1.....................................


Yay, I have more meaningless internet points now! 

But yeah, Henry's comment made me go back and listen to it again earlier. I loved it even more on the 4th (ish) time I've heard it now. I think the concerto's lack of success was a combination of a number of factors. I think Bax's peculiar style in the format of a cello concerto just wasn't audiences wanted to hear at the time. That's partly why the soloist he commissioned it for tossed it in the trash pretty impetuously.

Bax isn't an overtly tuneful composer in the first place, so the concerto lacks a surface appeal that's going to 'hook' audiences in. It's more a piece of hitting the weight bench and "working out" the material. The Bax's style gets criticized a lot for being discursive and meandering, whereas I think he's actually extremely thorough in how he expounds his ideas. I think the looseness of the form and narrative is actually a strength of this concerto, because this stream-of-consciousness that's constantly developing his ideas strikes me as very lyrical and also naturally "conversational" if that makes sense. The 2nd movement Nocturne is very much like an extended aria going on a profound soliloquy. But overall, this stylistic approach as well as Bax's rougher contours and lack of flashiness + earworms was never going to be received well. Wrong place, wrong time. 

Another strength of the concerto is the smaller chamber format of the orchestration where the orchestra and soloist work more in tandem as quasi equal partners. It allows for some really tight knit and vibrant textures. I wouldn't go as far to say it's some absolute masterpiece, but it deserves way more credit than it does. That initial bad reception in the 30s made it get off on the wrong foot and that can still leave a legacy to this day.


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## SuperTonic (Jun 3, 2010)

This is more or less my order of preference.

Shostakovich 1
Elgar
Barber
Shostakovich 2
Lutoslawski
Schnittke 1
Prokofiev Symphony-Concerto
Britten Cello Symphony
Bloch - Schelomo (yeah i know, it isn't technically a concerto)
Ligeti


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## GucciManeIsTheNewWebern (Jul 29, 2020)

SuperTonic said:


> This is more or less my order of preference.
> 
> Shostakovich 1
> Elgar
> ...


No Dvorak? That's interesting


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## haziz (Sep 15, 2017)

wkasimer said:


> Am I the only person on TC who likes the Elgar Concerto?


I too am astounded by the lack of love being shown to the Elgar Cello Concerto in this thread! Do people not recognize it as a 20th century composition (1919), or is there genuinely little love for it?

Needless to say it is one of my favorite compositions by any composer, in any genre. I would actually rank it as one of my top 5 favorite compositions, period.


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## SuperTonic (Jun 3, 2010)

I thought it was a list of 20th century cello concertos. According to wiki the Dvorak was written in 1894.


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## GucciManeIsTheNewWebern (Jul 29, 2020)

SuperTonic said:


> I thought it was a list of 20th century cello concertos. According to wiki the Dvorak was written in 1894.


You're right, I just need to learn how to read :lol:


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## fbjim (Mar 8, 2021)

I actually didn't know the Saint-Saens No. 2 was 20th century! I'll have to stick up for that one, Saint-Saens was a great writer for cello and French music needs more rep anyway.


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

Kabalevsky: Cello Concerto I
Kabalevsky: Cello Concerto II
Myaskovsky
Shostakovich: Cello Concerto I
Glazunov: Chant du ménestrel (1901)
Leighton
Elgar
Tchaikovsky, Boris
Weinberg
Kancheli: Mourned by the Wind (Liturgy in Memoriam of Givi Ordzhonikidze)


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

Samuel Barber - Cello Concerto
Krzysztof Penderecki - Cello Concerto No. 1
Thea Musgrave - From Darkness to Light
Thomas Ades - Lieux Retrouvés 
Elliott Carter - Cello Concerto
Charles Wuorinen - Chamber Concerto for Cello and 10 Players 
Joan Tower - Music for Cello and Orchestra
Ligeti - Cello Concerto
Magnus Lindberg - Cello Concerto No. 2
Toru Takemitsu - Orion and Pleiades for cello and orchestra
Unsuk Chin - Cello Concerto
Eduard Tubin - Concerto for Cello and Orchestra

A few of these are from the 21st century, so I cheated.


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## golfer72 (Jan 27, 2018)

GucciManeIsTheNewWebern said:


> Yay, I have more meaningless internet points now!
> 
> But yeah, Henry's comment made me go back and listen to it again earlier. I loved it even more on the 4th (ish) time I've heard it now. I think the concerto's lack of success was a combination of a number of factors. I think Bax's peculiar style in the format of a cello concerto just wasn't audiences wanted to hear at the time. That's partly why the soloist he commissioned it for tossed it in the trash pretty impetuously.
> 
> ...


Very well said. i also like the Moeran concerto a lot


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Shostakovich _1 & 2_, Kabalevsky _1_, Rodrigo _Concierto como un divertimento_, Walton, Hovhaness, Bloch _Voice in the Wilderness_, Elgar, Dutilleux, Myaskovsky.


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