[Rostropovich] Shostakovich cello Concerto #1 in E flat major(19

Concerto No. 1 for Violoncello in E-flat major, Op. 107 by Dmitri Shostakovich written in 1959.

I. Allegretto
II. Moderato
III. Cadenza
IV. Allegro con moto

Shostakovich wrote two concertos for his friend, the great Russian cello virtuoso Mstislav Rostropovich. Rostropovich writes:"[Shostakovich] gave me the score of his first Cello Concerto, and in four days I memorized it and played it for him while he accompanied me on piano. We were so happy, we drank a little vodka together. We then played it again, not so perfectly, and drank more vodka. The third time I think I played the Saint-Saens Concerto while he accompanied his own concerto. We were very happy."

More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mstislav_Rostropovich

Shostakovich stated that his inspiration while working on the concerto was Sergei Prokofiev's Symphony-Concertante for cello and orchestra. He said of this work, "I took a simple little theme and tried to develop it." This quizzical little four-note motive, stated brusquely by the solo cello in the opening bars of the concerto, is certainly related to the composer's personal musical monogram—D, E-flat, C, B (or D-S-C-H in German notation)—and appears again in the tragic Eighth String Quartet. Shostakovich called the first movement "a jocular march," but its humor is darkly grotesque and acerbic, rudely punctuated by four loud blows from the timpani. The elegiac Moderato and extended solo Cadenza that follow are the emotional center of the concerto. The heart-felt second movement is imbued with the searching melancholy and tenderness so characteristic of Shostakovich's finest music. It ends bleakly with a ghostly dialogue between celesta and the solo cello in its highest, most eerie register. A long, unaccompanied cadenza follows in which the solo cello muses over previous themes and moves gradually from the lyrical mood of the second movement through virtuosic reminiscences of the first movement to the fierce rhythmic impetuosity of the Finale. Shostakovich, who had a dryly satiric sense of humor, loved to hide craftily disguised musical puns and quotations in his music. While they were rehearsing the concerto, Shostakovich hummed the opening theme of the Finale to Rostropovich, laughed and said, "Slava, have you noticed?" The mystified cellist hadn't noticed anything. The composer then sang the words to Stalin's favorite song, Suliko. The first five notes of the opening theme, introduced by the strings, are a direct quote from the song. Again the mood is grotesque and dark with savage interruptions from the timpani adding a maniacal tinge to the primitive humor of screeching clarinets and piccolo. Finally the quirky four-note theme of the first movement returns in woodwinds and solo horn and the work ends with a grimly exuberant flurry of virtuosic scales and octaves by the soloist.

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