Cello Concerto (Honegger)

Cello Concerto
by Arthur Honegger
Cellist Maréchal in Tokyo
KeyC major
CatalogueH. 72
Year1929
DedicationMaurice Maréchal
Published1931 - Paris
PublisherÉditions Maurice Senart
Duration17 minutes
Movements1
Premiere
Date17 February 1930 (1930-02-17)
LocationBoston, Massachusetts, United States
ConductorSerge Koussevitzky
Performers

Arthur Honegger's Cello Concerto in C major, H. 72, is the composer's only cello concerto. It was composed in 1929 and premiered in Boston the next year with the soloist Maurice Maréchal to whom it is dedicated.

Background

The Cello Concerto is one of Honnegger's three concertante works, and the only one without a diminutive in its title. Composed in 1929, it was finished after Honegger had become a member of Les Six, a group of composers that advocated a return to French music-hall traditions and departed from Wagnerian influence.[1] The work was premiered by cellist Maurice Maréchal,[2] who was also the dedicatee.[3] The premiere took place in Boston with Maréchal as the soloist and Serge Koussevitzky conducting[4] the Boston Symphony Orchestra, on 17 February 1930.[5][6] This was not Honegger's first premiere on American territory, as he had premiered Pacific 231 in Boston during the 1924-25 season with Koussevitzky, a noted champion of contemporary music.[7] It was published a year later, in 1931, by Éditions Maurice Senart, and is nowadays published by Francis Salabert. The original cadenza written by Maréchal was also published in 1931 as a separate item.[1][8]

Structure

The concerto is in one movement. It is scored for solo cello and an orchestra made up of two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two French horns, two trumpets, a tuba, timpani, percussion, and a standard string section. It is structured into three distinct sections, which were considered to be distinct attacca movements at the time of the premiere:[9] an introductory "andantino" section, a slow section marked "lento" and followed by an ad libitum cadenza by the solo cello, and a quick-paced "allegro marcato" section that closes the piece.[10]

Recordings

Reviewing a 2007 recording by cellist Christian Poltéra with the Malmö Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Tuomas Hannikainen, which combined the work with the composer's Cello Sonata and two Sonatinas, Guy Rickards from Gramophone noted that recordings of the Cello Concerto are rather rare, but Rostropovich had already recorded it twice by then.[10] The following is a list of recordings of Honegger's Cello Concerto.

Recordings of Honegger's Cello Concerto
Cello Conductor Orchestra Date of recording Place of recording Label
Maurice Maréchal Arthur Honegger Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire January 1931 — EMI Classics[11]
Christian Poltéra Tuomas Hannikainen Malmö Symphony Orchestra June 2007 Malmö Concert Hall, Sweden BIS Records[10][12]
Johannes Moser Christoph Poppen Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern June 2010 SWR Studio, Kaiserslautern, Germany SWR Classic[13]
Daniel Müller-Schott Alexandre Bloch Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin August 2019 Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Germany Orfeo[14]

References

  1. ^ a b "Cello Concerto in C major, H. 72 | Details". AllMusic. Retrieved 2025-11-20.
  2. ^ Woolf, Jonathan (August 2009). "Mstislav Rostropovich - The Complete EMI Recordings". Opus Klassiek. Retrieved 2025-12-12.
  3. ^ Honegger, Arthur. "Concerto" (PDF). Petrucci Music. Retrieved 2025-12-12.
  4. ^ "Arthur Honegger : Concerto pour violoncelle et orchestre H72". Durand Salabert Eschig. 2025-06-18. Retrieved 2025-12-12.
  5. ^ MacDonald, Calum (2008). "Une Cantate de Noël, Cello Concerto & other orchestral works". Hyperion Records. Retrieved 2025-12-12.
  6. ^ Boston Symphony Orchestra. Boston Symphony Orchestra concert programs, 1929-1930, Subscription Series, Season 49. Boston Symphony Orchestra Archives. Boston, Mass. : Boston Symphony Orchestra.
  7. ^ "Koussevitzky Comes to Boston! The First Season, 1924-1925". BSO. Retrieved 2025-11-29.
  8. ^ "Cello Concerto, H.72 (Honegger, Arthur) - IMSLP". imslp.org. Retrieved 2025-11-21.
  9. ^ Boston Symphony Orchestra. Boston Symphony Orchestra concert programs, 1929-1930, Subscription Series, Season 49. Boston Symphony Orchestra Archives. Boston, Mass. : Boston Symphony Orchestra.
  10. ^ a b c Rickards, Guy (February 2008). "Honegger Cello Concerto; Cello Sonata". Gramophone. Retrieved 2025-11-28.
  11. ^ "Composers in Person - MusicBrainz". musicbrainz.org. Retrieved 2025-11-21.
  12. ^ "Honegger, A.: Cello Concerto / Cello Sonata". Naxos. Retrieved 2025-11-21.
  13. ^ "Martinu, B.: Cello Concerto No. 1 / Hindemith, P.:.. - CD93.276". Naxos. Retrieved 2025-11-21.
  14. ^ "Cello Concertos - Saint-Saens, C. / Honegger, A. /.. - C988211". Naxos. Retrieved 2025-11-21.

Further reading

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