Day 76
Jaëll Cello concerto in f
Xavier Phillips
Brussels Philharmonic
Hervé Niquet
This is another discovery from the Bru Zane catalogue. Marie Jaëll (1846-1925) had a significant influence as a piano teach and was the author of several widely-used pedagogical works. She was very well connected with the late 19th century musical world. She knew, for example, Liszt, Brahms and Franck and was a close acquaintance of Saint-Saëns, who dedicated his first piano concerto to her.
She returned the compliment by dedicating this cello concerto 1882 to Saint-Saëns. It is a lovely work. It is quite brief - not much over a quarter of an hour and full of elegance and grace. The cello is front of stage throughout - this is not one of those pieces which is a battle between soloist and orchestra and it emphasises the singing quality of the instrument, though there are some virtuoso passages, particularly in the 3rd movement, which is a lively tarantella like dance. The only disappointment for me was the very end which was a little abruptly and inconsequential.
That apart, however, this would be a piece which could grace any soloist's portfolio. I suspect, however, that concerto soloists (and audiences) want a more substantial piece for use in a concert and it would not really be economical to engage a soloist for such a short piece. At one time concerts used to feature shorter concertante pieces in the second half after the main concerto, but that doesn't seem to happen much these days. So lovely pieces such as the various Saint-Saëns one movement pieces for piano and orchestra, or, say, the similar pieces by Mendelssohn rarely get heard.
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