The Cello Concerto is a concerto for solo

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

and

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

by the American composer

Nico Muhly Nico Asher Muhly (; born August 26, 1981) is an American contemporary classical music composer and arranger who has worked and recorded with both classical and pop musicians. A prolific composer, he has composed for many notable symphony orchestras ...

. The work was commissioned by the Barbican Centre for the

Britten Sinfonia Britten Sinfonia is a chamber orchestra ensemble based in Cambridge, UK. It was created in 1992, following an initiative from Eastern Arts and a number of key figures including Nicholas Cleobury, who recognised the need for an orchestra in th ...

and cellist Oliver Coates, to whom Muhly dedicated the piece. It was first performed on March 16, 2012 at the Barbican Centre by Coates and the Britten Sinfonia under conductor André de Ridder. Muhly, Nico (2012)
Cello Concerto: Program Note
Retrieved August 1, 2015.

Composition

The Cello Concerto has a duration of roughly 18 minutes and is composed in three numbered movements. The first movement quotes the texture from the opening bar of composer

Henri Dutilleux Henri Paul Julien Dutilleux (; 22 January 1916 – 22 May 2013) was a French composer active mainly in the second half of the 20th century. His small body of published work, which garnered international acclaim, followed in the tradition of ...

's 1965 orchestral piece ''Métaboles''.

Instrumentation

The work is scored for a solo cello and small orchestra comprising flute,

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. ...

, clarinet, bassoon, horn,

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standar ...

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrat ...

, bass trombone, one percussionist,

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a musica ...

(doubling

celesta The celesta or celeste , also called a bell-piano, is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. It looks similar to an upright piano (four- or five- octave), albeit with smaller keys and a much smaller cabinet, or a large wooden music box ...

), harp, and strings.

Reception

Reviewing the world premiere, Ivan Hewett of ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'' praised the Cello Concerto as "instinctively 'musical' in its sharply heard orchestral palette, and its way of energising string cantilenas with off-beat Stravinskian accents." Hewett nevertheless added, "the promising opening soon lost its way, and attempts to restore direction through sudden harmonic shifts couldn't dispel a debilitating sense of drift." Later reviews of the concerto have been more favorable, however. Reviewing the premiere recording of the piece by the cellist

Zuill Bailey James Zuill Bailey, better known as Zuill Bailey (born 1972) is a Grammy Award-winning American cellist, chamber musician, and artistic director. A graduate of the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University and the Juilliard School, he ha ...

and the

Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra (ISO) is an American orchestra based in Indianapolis, Indiana. The largest performing arts organization in Indiana, the orchestra is based at the Hilbert Circle Theatre in downtown Indianapolis on Monument Cir ...

under conductor Jun Märkl, Joshua Kosman of the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The pap ...

'' called the piece a "lush, invigorating score" and described is as "suffused with a luxuriant beauty that is unafraid — for better or worse — of teetering into sentimentality". Ivan March of ''

Gramophone A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

'' similarly lauded the composition as an "original and inspired work". Helen Wallace of the ''

BBC Music Magazine ''BBC Music Magazine'' is a British monthly magazine that focuses primarily on classical music. History The first issue appeared in September 1992. BBC Worldwide, the commercial subsidiary of the BBC was the original owner and publisher toge ...

'' said it "presents a smorgasbord of slick ideas, enticingly presented, occasionally lacking in substance." Russell Platt of ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issue ...

'' wrote: Platt added, "I respect Muhly's industry in all its forms, but the Cello Concerto is the type of Muhly piece that I will most look forward to."

References

{{Reflist, 30em Compositions by Nico Muhly 2012 compositions Muhly Music commissioned by the Barbican Centre