Acoustic Microphones
I recently finished a music history class at Juilliard about cello concertos.
For the last session of class the professor asked us to come prepared to discuss which cello concerto we would recommend to introduce someone to the genre for the first time.
My answer was the first movement of Sir Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 85.
My favorite recorded version of this piece is Jacqueline du Pré playing with The Philadelphia Orchestra.
There is a moment - in measures 32 and 33 in the score, or at around 2:42 in the above recording - that brings the cello concerto form together. The soloist runs up to a high E, sustains it loudly, and then the orchestra comes in with the theme, booming.
Soloist and orchestra, each doing what they do best. Together.
When it came to my turn to share my “introducer piece” with the class, the professor's response was supportive though he pointed out that it would sound quite different live versus recorded. And that the introduction of recording technology made a huge impact because the cello could be amplified in the mix.
Taking a step back, this explains why few cello concertos were written by giant composers like Beethoven or Mozart or Brahms (these three didn’t write any). That is, cellos were not thought of break-through instruments in the early days of concertos. So these composers wrote concertos for violin or piano because they are uniquely-pitched instruments that stand out against the texture of an orchestra.
This leads me to the photograph above showing British cellist Beatrice Harrison playing into an acoustic microphone while recording the Elgar concerto.
So many things connect in this picture.
The soloist sits at the center. The orchestra is in the foreground. The conductor (it’s Elgar!) stands behind.
The year is 1920, one year after the work was premiered live by cellist Felix Salmon. By many accounts the premier did not go well because it was underrehearsed.
Harrison's recording brought it back, massively popularizing it and opening the door for subsequent generations of British cellists including Jaqueline Du Pré and Sheku Kanneh-Mason to keep it in the repertoire.
Did recording technology make a big difference for this piece?
I think so, yes.
And not only by levelling-up the solo instrument in the mix. It also allowed for wider distribution than live performances via broadcasts and pressed records.
If you are curious about cello concertos and haven’t heard one, or aren’t sure, please start with the Elgar.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cello_Concerto_(Elgar)
PS. After listening to every major (and not so major) cello concerto in this class, here are my favorites in the form of a playlist. Ordered old to new. There’s nothing good after 1959. Yet.
Monn/Schoenberg Cello Concerto in G Minor (bf 1750)
CPE Bach Cello Concerto in A Major (1753)
Haydn Cello Concerto, No. 1 in C Major (1765)
Tchaikovsky Variations on a Rococo Theme (1876)
Dvorak Cello Concerto in B Minor (1895)
Elgar Cello Concerto in E Minor, Opus 85 (1919)
Shostakovich Cello Concerto, No. 1 in E Flat Major (1959)
https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/cello-concertos/pl.u-RRbVVD1T2XD23
