French Belgian Cello Concertos On CD

Jacques Offenbach - 1848('Concerto Militaire', 1850?('Concerto Rondo' (RCA, Olympia, Vox) Camille Saint-Saens - 1872(Concerto No.1), 1902(No.2) (many of 1, 2 on Naxos & ?) Henri Vieuxtemps - 1876(Concerto No.1), 1880(No.2) (EMI) Eduard Lalo - 1877(Concerto) (many) Vincent D'Indy - 1884('Lied' (Philips) Guillaume Lekeu - 1892('Larghetto' (HM) Gabriel Faure - 1895('Elegie' (many) Jules Massenet - 1897('Fantaisie' (Koch, ASV) Joseph Jongen - 1900(Concerto) (Cypres) Andre Caplet - 1923('Epiphanie' (ORF) Jacques Ibert - 1926(Concerto) (Adda, Talent, BIS, Etcetera) Jean Cras - 1929('Legende' (Timpani) Arthur Honegger - 1929(Concerto) (many) Darius Milhaud - 1934(Concerto No.1), 1945(No.2) (both on Doron, No.1 Erato) Albert Roussel - 1936(Concertino) (EMI, Valois) Godfried Devreese - 1940(Concertino) (Marco Polo) Lodewijk De Vocht - 1956(Concerto) (Marco Polo) Alexandre Tansman - 1963(Concerto) (Koch) Henri Sauguet - 1964('Melodie Concertante' (Russian Disc) Andre Jolivet - 1966(Concerto No.2) (Solstice) Frank Martin - 1966(Concerto) (Preludio) Henri Dutilleux - 1970(Concerto 'Tout un Monde Lontain' (many) Renaud Gagneux - 1986('Triptique' (Teldec) Maurice Ohana - 1990(Concerto No.2 'in dark and blue' (Timpani) Laurent Petitgirard - 1994(Concerto) (Chant du Monde)

Martin also on Memories (Fournier/Szell)

The Andanate for Cello & Orchestra, on that same RCA CD.

2 is on enough to be called 'many'. There's also Le Muse et La Poet (?), which is for Violin, Cello, and Orchestra on 'many'.

A few more (just in case Eric doesn't have them in the pipeline):

Jean Francaix - 1934('Fantaisie', 1950('Variations de Concert' (Pierre Verany) Leon Boellmann - ?(1862-97)('Variations Symphonique' (Vox)

I believe there was once a recording on Erato of the Jolivet First Cello Concerto. I can't name the performers.

Hrm. At least according to one source, the concerto on Solstice SOCD81 is the first concerto (Navarra/Orch. Nat. France/Jolivet)- is there a CD with the second? I'm under the impression that there was an Erato LP with the 2nd concerto (from the 1970s, STU70509, with Rostropovich, vc, Orch. Nat. ORTF, Jolivet conducting again, according to the LoC listing) but I haven't seen or heard it.

Schmitt wrote a Chant Elegiaque for cello and orchestra once available on a Cybelia LP but I know of no CD issue. (Any takers at all for Widor's concerto?) Saint-Saens' other cello and orchestra works (suite, Allegro appasionato) have had a few recordings each though the suite is originally for cello and piano. (There was a Philips cassette of all his cello and orchestra works, and there's the newer recording with various French and Swiss cello and orchestra works as well with just the All. appass.) JPC lists a DG disc with a Boismortier cello concerto (original? arranged?)- op. 26/6, Musica Antiqua Koln/Goebel. And Henri Marteau's concerto op. 7 is listed as coupled with a recording of his clarinet quintet (not the Thorofon recording, but another..) Eric Schissel

The recording on Solstice is of Concerto No. 1 for Cello with Andre Navarra and Jolivet conducting. It was originally issued on Erato and later in the U.S. in 1966 as Westminster WST-172118. It was coupled with the Concerto No. 2 for Trumpet and the Concertino for Trumpet, Piano, and Strings. In the 1970s Erato also released a recording of the Concerto No. 2 for Cello, which was later reissued in plain white packaging by the Musical Heritage Society. I am not sure what the coupling was of the Concerto No. 2 if there was a coupling. It was a fairly long work and could have filled both sides of a shortish LP. As an aside, a fair amount of orchestral Jolivet has never been recorded: operas, ballets, a second flute concerto, etc. I think it was Solstice who once issued a recording of all three of Jolivet's numbered symphonies. I have never been able to find a copy.

The second concerto's coupling on the Erato LP (in one incarnation) was the five ritual dances for orchestra. It is true that the three orchestral symphonies have been recorded aside from the CD of the third and the LP? of the first on a French radio label - might have been on Solstice.

Eric Schissel

Thanks for correction/clarification on Jolivet, - and reminding me of Marteau's Concerto, which has been on my JPC list for a while (while such list awaits reaching critical mass enough needed to justify the shipping cost).

There's also a 'Suite Cisalpine' (on popular Piedmontese airs, i.e. Swiss-French folk tunes) by Milhaud for Cello & Orchestra (originally for piano) issued on a Vox CD.

Just out of curiosity, what is the purpose of classifying cello concertos on the basis of the national origin of the composer?

Norm Strong