Cello Concertos Nos 1 & 2

'Rota remains largely unrecorded, so it's good to be able to offer an enthusiastic welcome to world premiere accounts of his two cello concertos… these concertos create a powerful impression.'
BBC Music Magazine

Chandos is delighted to present premiere recording of Nino Rota's Cello Concertos. It continues the rediscovery of his more formal classical work which has been neglected in favour of his more well-known film music which includes the theme to The Godfather. It is part of an ongoing project to record all of his concertante works.

This disc features the debut on Chandos of the cellist Dmitry Yablonsky, who was born in Moscow in 1962 and emigrated to the United States in 1977. He studied at the Juilliard School, the Curtis Institute of Music and Yale University. He is a frequent performer at many of the world's top venues and music festivals

The two Concertos for Cello and Orchestra, composed over the two-year period 1972-3, share several characteristics. Some of these are common to all Rota's music, such as the general tendency towards melodic and harmonic chromaticism, the extreme clarity of structure, and the varied but also well-balanced scoring which eschews recherché or what might be called experimental effects. But there are also more specific affinities. For example, Rota's natural inclination to demonstrate and even maximise the melodic possibilities of a theme is reflected in both concertos through his deployment of the technical device known as augmentation: the slowing down of the speed by doubling the note values. Of course, the procedure, simple in itself, is complemented by well-judged changes in harmonisation, instrumentation and register.

Each of the two concertos, however, has its own distinctive character. The climate of the first is dramatic and intense, that of the second lighter and calmer. The difference in expressive content is reflected in the choice of orchestral forces. Concerto No. 1 calls for a more robust texture, with a brass section including two trumpets, four horns, three trombones and bass tuba. Concerto No. 2 calls for a lighter, more classically constituted orchestra with only two horns and no trombones or tuba.

The solo part in the first concerto is extrovert and virtuosic, especially in the finale; it is more restrained in the second concerto even though the writing makes all the expected demands on the soloist.