A Closer Look at Virgil Thomson's Cello Concerto
This neglected work is due some attention
Among the 20th century's many neglected cello concertos, the one composed between 1945 and 1950 by Kansas City—born Virgil Thomson (1896–1989) is an excellent candidate for revival and widespread popularity. It's a delight from beginning to end, featuring user-friendly populist tunes and harmonies, bright orchestral colors, swinging cowboy rhythms, and thrilling technical challenges worthy of the top virtuosi. Despite a flurry of prestigious advocacy, the concerto quickly drifted into obscurity.Things finally began looking up for the Thomson concerto when a young American cellist named Emmanuel Feldman obtained a copy of the music and found it to be "an undiscovered gem of American cello repertoire, a deeply felt but lighter companion to the great Barber Concerto. The piece is like an American take on Haydn's D major Concerto, with a western flair."
This article, "A Closer Look at Virgil Thomson's Cello Concerto," is part of the Strings Archive, which you can access with a paid site subscription.
If you have a paid subscription, you are seeing this message because you have not logged in.
What do you want to do?
Log in using my current paid subscription account.
Subscribe now and get our best offer.
- Philippe Quint Adds Star Quality to John Corigliano's 'Red Violin Caprices'
-
- Flux Quartet Records Morton Feldman in Surround Sound
-
- Dvorak's 'Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104'
-
- American Classical Music Hall of Fame Inducts 12 Laureates
-
- New Horizons
-
- Zuill Bailey on the Dvorak Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104
-
ARE FULLY MODERATED
You must be logged in to rate and comment. Log in or Subscribe now.