German Austrian Cello Concertos On CD

As before, anything for Cello & Orchestra originating in these countries.

C.P.E. Bach - 1750, 1751, 1753 (Concertos) (many) Georg Christoph Wagenseil - 1752 & 1763 (Concertos) (Thorofon) Franz Joseph Haydn - 1765? & 1783 (Concertos) (many) Antonin Kraft - 1792 & 1803 (Concertos) (Panton) Ignaz Pleyel - 1795 (Concerto) (HM) Leopold Hofmann - ?(1738-1793) (4 Concertos) (Naxos) Franz Danzi - 1797 & ?(1763-1826) (Koch, Carlton) Carl Stamitz - ?(1745-1801) (3 Concertos) (Naxos, Panton, Carlton) Carl Maria Von Weber - ?(1786-1826) ('Grande Potpourri' (Carlton, Antes) Nicolaus Kraft - ?(1778-1851) ('Polonaise' (Carlton) Robert Schumann - 1854(Concerto) (many) Robert Volkmann - 1858(Concerto) (Koch, CPO) Carl Reinecke - 1866(Concerto) (RBM) Joachim Raff - 1874(Concerto No.1) (RBM) Max Bruch - 1880('Kol Nidrei', 1890('Canzone' & 'Adagio on Celtic Themes), 1892(Ave Maria) (RCA & Sony for all, many for Kol Nidrei) Julius Klengel - 1880(Concerto No.1), 1903(No.4) (CPO) Hans Pfitzner - 1888(Concerto Op.posth.), 1935(No.1), 1944(No.2) (CPO) Richard Strauss - 1897('Don Quixote' (many) Eugen D'Albert - 1899(Concerto) (Koch, Pan, Arcobaleno, Berlin Classics) Paul Hindemith - 1916(Concerto Op.posth), 1925(Kammermusik No.3) (CPO, many) Ernst Toch - 1924(Concerto) (Albany, CPO) Arnold Schoenberg - 1932(Concerto 'after G.M. Monn' (Koch, Sony) Hans Werner Henze - 1953('Ode To the Westwind' (DG, Arte Nova) Boris Blacher - 1964(Concerto) (Signum) Bernd Alois Zimmermann - 1966(Concerto 'Pas de trois' (CPO) Dietrich Erdmann - ?(b.1917)(Concerto) (Thorofon) Frank Michael Beyer - ?(b.1928)(Concerto 'Cantodi Giomo' (Academy)

Hindemith's 1940 Concerto and Krenek's Concerti were written after they had settled in the US so best included with 'American', and Berthold Goldschmidt's Concerto after his emigration to England.

I believe there was a Cello Concerto by Karl Holler once recorded in the LP era by Thorofon. Holler was a kind of German impressionist composer, if one can imagine such a thing. I also vaguely recall there may have been a few contemporary East German cello concertos recorded on the Nova or Eterna labels but can't provide any specific names at the moment.

The Holler rings a bell, and a library catalog check confirms the existence of a Colosseum LP from the late '70s (Berger/Bayerisches Landesjugendorchester Augsburg/Albert.) The 2nd Raff concerto is expected on CD eventually along with a new recording of the first. (Gernsheim's e minor concerto, op. 78, has been broadcast but not yet recorded. His cello sonata, symphonies, some choral music and soon his 2nd string quartet are probably the only recorded representation of this fine composer from Worms.) Korngold's cello concerto also dates from after he emigrated to the US, at that (recordings e.g. on cpo and Chandos.) The Strauss romance for cello and orchestra (1883) is available on CD (Chandos, ebs, RCA, Koch, Finlandia, for instance.) (Any idea what the two Weber works are - a concerto in D as well as the grand potpourri you mention- on an Antes release with Martin Ostertag, vc, Baden-Baden PO, Steifel conducting, also with music of Cassado?) Karl Friedrich Abel- a cello concerto was on an FSM LP. Nothing on CD? Bargiel's adagio for cello and orchestra (or piano) has received several recordings (RCA for the version with orchestra, for example.) Hrm. That's all I can find so far, anyway, though there are other works on broadcast tapes!

Also (op.4) Deutsche Harmonia Mundi (Bylsma)?

Eric Schissel

I'd be interested in having info about those East German concertos if you recollect anything imminently. It's disappointing how really few 20th century German/Austrian Cello Concertos can be heard (CD or LP) when compared with the availability of things originating in some of the other countries I've been considering. They're certainly 'out there' in any case. I must have a couple of dozen or more entries in my notebook of unrecorded (AFAIK) contemporary German works in this area, - not well known names it's true, but at least suspect that not a good chunk of this body might be good meat and of some enduring value. One would like to judge for oneself. A common lament and desire, I know.

Eric is right: the Holler Cello Concerto was on Colosseum. I'm afraid there's not too much readily available discographic information about East German Nova and Eterna recordings. Maybe Wilhelm Killmayer wrote a cello concerto. I'm not sure.

There's a sostenuto for cello and strings from 1984 and a pezzi es (ed?) intermezzi for piano, cello and orchestra from 1968 according to http://www.schott-english.com/nocache/smi_en/autoren/ KomponistenAZ/2,... but I don't know of recordings of either. Lachenmann's notturno for cello and small orchestra was released on a Kairos CD in 2001, though. Eric Schissel

You're quite right that there are a number of unrecorded, or untransferred, concerti. Molique's and Dietrich's are also quite good but not (yet?) commercially available, Arnold Mendelssohn's I haven't heard. Pleyel's concerti are, or, were, available on Hungaroton, though (HCD32067-68.) Eric Schissel

Based on what I've heard of their other music the Gernsheim and Hans Gal Cello Concertos would be high on my list of desirable recordings in this area (though Gal's Concerto was apparently written long after his departure from Germany). Bargiel's Adagio is an attractive piece (don't know how I overlooked that one), but Weber's Poupourri (that you ask about) merely a forgettable potboiler, - don't bother with it. Among names I recognize are Concertos by Fortner, Vogel, Reiter, Genzmer, and Helmut Degen (do I know him from something?). Lots more, -but they'll never be played/recorded, so who knows if they're worthy.

Oh, - and do you refer to Albert Dietrich, the Koch CD of whose Violin Concerto I've been searching for for years, and which if Scott or anyone else out there in internetland possesses, they would be doing a good deed in providing me with a CD-R copy? Didn't know he wrote a CC, - only familiar with the Sonata.

My plea also. Apparently the ingrates at Koch International never bothered to import it.

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