The Romantic Cello Concerto - 3

CHARLES VILLIERS STANFORD (1852-1924): Cello Concerto in D Minor, Rondo in F for Cello and Orchestra, Ballata and Ballabile, Op. 160, Irish Rhapsody No. 3, Op. 137.

Description: World Premiere Recordings of the very early (1869) Rondo, in Weber-Mendelssohn-Schumann vein; the Op. 160's Ballata has been recorded with piano, but this is the whole work's first complete recording: the sonorous, minor-key Ballata, again Schumannian in tone, gives way to a waltz-like Ballabile second movement. The work was not performed in its orchestral version until 1988. The 1880 concerto (first recorded by Lyrita), after Sullivan's lighter 1877 work, probably the first weighty, "serious" British cello concerto, with a tender to turbulent first movement, full of unusual tonal and thematic touches, a Schumannian Molto adagio and a cheery rondo finale. Gemma Rosefield (cello), BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra; Andrew Manze.