In April 2017, the Houston Symphony and principal cellist Brinton Averil Smith will give the first professional performance of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Cello Concerto in the US since its premiere by the New York Philharmonic and Arturo Toscanini in 1935.
Born in Italy in 1895, Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s reputation grew rapidly thanks to the support of violinist Jascha Heifetz and guitarist Andrés Segovia, who each asked him to compose concertos for them when he was in his 30’s.
Later, a few years before emigrating from Europe to flee religious persecution in 1938, Castelnuovo-Tedesco wrote another concerto for the great cellist Gregor Piatigorsky.
In 1935 Piatigorsky premiered the work with the New York Philharmonic and Arturo Toscanini. Despite being championed by powerful advocates and being the work of a well-known composer, the work did not catch on. Piatigorsky, who was unwilling to give up exclusive rights to the work, eventually let it drop and the concerto fell into obscurity, like so many other works by European émigrés who settled in California and began composing primarily for film.
About the piece
The concerto form resonated with Italian composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. Composing for a solo instrument with orchestra, he wrote in an essay, helped him express his "personal feeling in relation to the world"—an attitude based on his "confidence in life.”
Concertos he wrote for two iconic musicians—violinist Jascha Heifetz and guitarist Andres Segovia—helped launch Castelnuovo-Tedesco's career. Soon after that, he created his Cello Concerto for the Russian virtuoso Gregor Piatigorsky. In the composer’s autobiography, which is being translated by musicologist James Westby, he saluted the Russian virtuoso by declaring that “his sound is a rare beauty, his technique is prodigious, his warmth is irresistibly communicated.”
The concerto demands all those qualities. It also embodies Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s confidence in life. In its opening movement and finale, turbulence and brooding give way to optimism.
Though the orchestra’s color and atmosphere enrich the concerto, the cello is clearly the protagonist. Entering alone, the soloist flings out the vehement main theme, which will undergo many changes of mood as the first movement unfolds. The orchestra soon adds some of its deepest sonorities, including those of the trombones and double basses.
After the rest of the orchestra comes into play, the opening theme begins to evolve, and the cello gives it a gentler cast. But the music rouses as the soloist introduces a snappy, march-like theme at which the opening solo hinted. Then lyricism appears, in the form of a melody whose downward contours help lend it soulfulness and impact. As these themes interact, the movement passes through pensiveness, intensity and drama, climaxing in the cello’s cadenza, replete with bold gestures and biting chords. After the orchestra re-enters, softer sounds emerge. The music shifts to a major key, and the cello soars to a serene finish.
The second movement picks up on the luminous aura. It begins with the gleam of woodwinds, harp and celesta. The lilt of the cello’s melody launches a graceful, airy dance. A melody with more yearning comes into the picture, first from the cello, and then from the lush string section. But the music’s gentle swing returns.
An orchestral outburst launches the finale, and the cello quickly steps in with another big, dramatic solo. After taking a more lyrical turn, it builds up to the bold, bounding theme that propels the finale. The orchestra adds its own gusto. Then the cello brings back the restless melody from its solo, which the orchestra’s weight makes even more compelling. The vigor returns, and the cello part gains a new ardor that leads to a shining, major-key finish.
The Instruments: 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, English horns, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, 2 harps, percussion and strings