Cello Concerto in d minor by Édouard Lalo

Édouard Lalo (1823-1892) was born in Lille and died in Paris. He is probably best known for his Symphonie Espagnole, the title of which reflects his own ethnic background; he was of Spanish descent. His Cello Concerto in d minor is one of a handful that keep a place in the repertoire. It resembles Saint-Saëns’ cello concerto, and takes its place alongside the Haydn, Schumann, Dvořák, and such other less-often played cello concertos as that by Victor Herbert.

There are not nearly as many successful cello concertos as there are, for example, violin concertos, because the problems of writing for a solo cello versus the orchestra are much greater. The violin stands out naturally because it is in the upper register, whereas the cello’s tessitura lies more-or-less in the middle of the orchestra where it could easily be covered up by horns, trumpets, clarinets, bassoons, trombones, the tuba, and so forth. Many composers solve this by using more antiphonal sections between cello and orchestra (much like the responsive readings of churches and synagogues), only combining the two on select and very carefully scored occasions, such as the upper, brilliant range of the cello against lower strings, woodwinds, or brass used sparingly, or the dominating lower range with the upper instruments. Another option is using the orchestra as “punctuation.” All of these concertos cited above solve these problems quite well, with excellent balance between soloist and orchestra. It is the opinion of this writer that Lalo actually did a better job of this than Schumann, for example, but that is a matter of personal preference. In any event, it is a beautiful and exciting work, and one that deserves to be heard more often.

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To purchase a set of parts, please click here.

To hear this work, among others, performed by Yo-Yo Ma, check out this recording:

On this recording are:
#1. Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 33
Composed by Camille Saint-Saëns
Performed by Orchestre National de France
with Yo-Yo Ma
Conducted by Lorin Maazel

#2. Cello Concerto in D minor
Composed by Édouard Lalo
Performed by Orchestre National de France
with Yo-Yo Ma
Conducted by Lorin Maazel