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Cello concerto #1 in G minor op. 49...
Any recent recordings worth noting?
Why can't I find any record that Rostropovich ever recorded it?
They were friends and worked together on some arrangement of a Cello Concerto written earlier by Prokofiev, right?
Listening to the above now conducted by the composer.
Follow Ups:
Rostropovich never recorded anything by Kabalevsky other than the sonatas. To my knowledge, there was no animosity between the two. Rostropovich and Kabalevsky recorded the cello sonatas together and later worked together to complete Prokofiev's Concertino for Cello and Orchestra.
When asked why he never recorded the Elgar cello concerto, Rostropovich was quite blunt. He said, after playing/recording the works of Shostakovich, Prokofiev, etc, he felt like the Elgar was more suited to a young cellist (like hus student DuPre) because the Elgar seemed to him naive, the slow movement sounding like the story of "first love."
He also never recorded the Walton concerto. He said he just never got around to it. He did admire Walton and asked Walton to write a piece he could premier. Slava did premier Walton's Passacaglia for cello solo, but never played the cello concerto.
Rostropovich said his greatest regret was that he never recorded Britten's 3rd suite for solo cello. He referred to Britten as one of his composer "gods" along with Shostakovich and Prokofiev. He said he was kept so busy with other projects that he just never found time for it.
Rostropovich gave more than 325 world premiers during his lifetime, among them major works by Gliere, Myaskovsky, Shaporin, Schnittke, shebalin, Boris Tchaikovsky, Weinberg, etc. But he was, of course, constantly called upon to play the warhorses of the standard repertoire in concert. So it's no surprise that there were pieces that we now wish he had recorded, but he never found time for.
I wonder if Kabalevsky had asked Rostropovich to *premier* his cello concertos, Slava would have made room for them, as he did for so many others.
Of course, Rostropovich was horrified by the 1948 Soviet condemnation of some of the major composers (including his teacher, Shostakovich, the head of the Moscow conservatory Myaskovsky, etc) for "formalism." Kabalevsky was also originally on that list of composers to be condemned and he instead convinced the Soviets that his teacher Myaskovsky was really the one to blame, that he had been corrupted by Myaskovsky. After that, Kabalevsky concentrated on childrens music and songs and more conventionally romantic kinds of compositions. Kabalevsky, playing it safe, may have not wanted to be associated with Rostropovich anymore, or Rostropovich may have been angry about Kabalevsky's selling out Myaskovsky, or may have considered Kabalevsky's concertos, like Elgar's, just not substantive enough to support.
There is much we don't know about the sad situation with classical music inside the Soviet Union. But it's hard to fault Rostropovich for the music he never recorded, since he worked so assiduously to promote new composers.
"Life without music is a mistake" (Nietzsche)
Rostropovich may have found the Elgar wrong for him, but nevertheless he did play it before deciding it was wrong for him--one of the performances is easily located on youtube.
I have two modern recordings of the 2nd and both are great: Mats Lidstrom with Gothenberg/Ashkenazy on BIS and Isserlis with London Phil/Litton. For some odd reason, I don't have a recording of the 1st. ArkivMusic lists 8 recordings of it including the Shafran. May have to check one of those out.
His 1st is certainly more original.
His second, to my ear, borrows from just about everyone from Shosty to Prokofiev and even from his own 1st.
If you are looking for night and day differences in the presentation of his 1st, YoYo Ma w. Ormandy vs. Shafran w. Kabalevsky himself on the podium is about as much of a contrast in styles as one could hope to hear.
Still surprised that Rostropovich didn't seem to record it, or at least there is nothing I can find that indicates that he did.
Perhaps for political rather then musical reasons that Rostropovich chose not to record Kabalevsky.
And he worked with Kabalevsky on 'finishing' that Prokofiev piece?
Very curious to know the reason. Granted, Kabalevsky's 1st. Cello Concerto is an early piece, simple but I think with charm. Later Kabalevsky seems to have come under the influence of other composers to the point of a certain loss of originality?
OK, WTFDIK?
Still, surprised Rostropovich does not seem to have ever recorded it.
Wonder if he ever played it in concert?
It's a 40-minute-long cello concerto (based, as you say, on an earlier Cello Concerto - each work with its own opus number).
I've played the second movement of this work in a workshop with a local cellist - the difficulties for the soloist are pretty hair-raising.
I think I may have played the first movement of the Kabelevsky Cello Concerto too (again with a local cellist in a workshop), but it was a long time ago. I generally like Kabelevsky's works - I still haven't heard his Requiem, said to contain some of his best music. (I see that it's on uTube.)
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