Another of my favourite 20th century concertos is featured on the new release Kabalevsky 2nd & Schumann CELLO CONCERTOS (OUR Recordings 8.226926 ourrecordings.com/albums/cello-concertos) with Theodor Lyngstad and the Copenhagen Phil under Eva Ollinkainen. I first heard Dmitri Kabalevsky’s Cello Concerto No.2 in C Minor, Op.77 on a 1968 Angel LP release of a Melodiya recording of the premiere, featuring dedicatee Daniel Shafran and the Leningrad Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra under the direction of the composer.
I mentioned above how much I enjoyed the timbre of the saxophone in the classical context and I believe that this recording was my first exposure to this phenomenon. The alto sax plays a pivotal role in this concerto, trading lines with the solo cello in a way that makes them almost indistinguishable. I was floored when I first heard it. This new recording, which features the young principal cellist of the Copenhagen Phil (just 25 when appointed in 2019) is just as engaging, and I hear even more of the sax in the orchestral textures later in the work.
Kabalevsky was a somewhat controversial composer, often berated in the west for adherence to “socialist realist” doctrines and toadying to the powers that be of the Soviet Union. But this work seems removed from that. As Lyngstad points out “there is a darkness and nostalgic feel to the music. It is undeniably inspired by his professor Myaskovsky’s cello concerto in the same key, a composer that became an accused ‘formalist’ by the Soviet regime. Myaskovsky was dead by the time Kabalevsky wrote this concerto, but it could easily be seen as a tribute to him, and perhaps even a subtle criticism or defiance of the Soviet regime.”
Lyngstad has chosen to pair the Kabalevsky with the more familiar Cello Concerto in A Minor, Op.129 by Schumann. He says “I find them bound together in an introspective and somewhat defiant spirit. They are similar in form, with three continuous movements, written out cadenzas and the overall development of minor to major. But even more interestingly I see a strong link in the personality and psychology of the pieces […] Neither are written for the soloist to show off. To me they are equal conversations between the soloist and orchestra, where the music tells us something rather intimate, honest and true. With melodic styles they show a tension between minor and major, darkness and light, hope and despair.” In his intimate interactions with the orchestra Lyngstad brings all this and more to fore. It’s a very satisfying recording; one I will treasure. Editor Corner, David Olds April 17th 2025