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To say that the concerto was one of Haydn's favourite forms would be a bit much, daft even. The man wrote a good hundred symphonies, dozens of quartets, trios, piano sonatas, fifteen or so masses and as many operas, and oratorios... Currently we know of three violin concertos (others being lost or apocryphal), two cello concertos (others... see above), one horn concerto, one for trumpet (there are no others) and at most about ten concertos for piano. Musically, they are fascinating works, but the level of technical skill they demand runs from moderate to a bit tricky. But the First Cello Concerto is not without its moments of difficulty, such as the rapid high notes in the final movement, and it offers some real fireworks.  It should also be noted that most of the concertos were written for Esterházy, specifically for the first soloists in the house orchestra of Konzertmeister Luigi Tomasini and first cellist Joseph Weigl. The orchestral accompaniments offered the soloists some fine backdrops: in particular in the second movement of the Concerto for violin in C Major , with the orchestra's string section accompanying the solo violin with a sort of lute-playing that becomes a kind of serenade à la Don Giovanni. Amandine Beyer takes up the violin for this recording, while Marco Ceccato deals with the cello solo – both members of the Gli Incogniti ensemble ("The Unknowns"), a fluid grouping that plays without a conductor. Their leaderless style means that the musicians all listen to one another: it's a lovely way of making music (and sadly rare in the world of orchestras). © SM/Qobuz

Two “Soviet” concertos for cello and orchestra, both written in 1966, that is the idea behind this recording of cellist Maximilian Hornung. Of course, the most famous of the two is and remains Shostakovich's Second Concerto, written for and premiered by Rostropovich. Less famous, except perhaps in Georgia, is the Georgian composer Sulkhan Tsintsadze (1925-1991), himself a renowned virtuoso cellist, who composed an impressive number of chamber music, concertos, symphonies, operas, oratorios, completely ignored by the rest of the world, what a pity. Tsintsadze, as might be thought from a "regional" Soviet composer, often borrows from the folklore of his country, but this is in no way a limitation or a specialization, no more than the way Khatchaturian would sometimes borrow from Armenia. Here is his Concerto No. 2 in five episodes, in which Tsintsadze is certainly quite indebted to Shostakovich, but also to Prokofiev undoubtedly, even to Khatchaturian here and there. The instrumental language is both brilliant and idiomatic. The contrast between his concerto and that of Shostakovich – keeping in mind that they both date from the same year – is striking. The cellist Maximilian Hornung has already performed as a soloist with the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, the Tonhalle Zurich, the London Philharmonic, the Orchestre National de France, the London Philharmonia; in short, many of the most prestigious orchestras in the world. © SM/Qobuz

This release features the best Belgian clarinettist, Roeland Hendrikx, in collaboration with one of the world’s oldest and finest orchestras, the London Philharmonic. Hendrikx, incidentally, is the first Belgian virtuoso to team up with this illustrious ensemble. On the programme is the most famous clarinet concerto (Mozart’s), an undeservedly lesser known concerto (Bruch’s Double Concerto for Clarinet and Viola), and an erroneously forgotten one (by Gerald Finzi). All three concertos are more appropriately dubbed “clarinettist” concertos instead of clarinet concertos: more than any other instrument, the clarinet is a medium for personal dedication to specific virtuosi. Mozart created his clarinet concerto for Anton Stadler, while Max Bruch dedicated his (double) concerto to his son Max Felix. In some cases, however, the link between piece and performer is even stronger. Hendrikx had front row access to Gerald Finzi’s delicately autumnal concerto via his teacher Thea King, doyenne of British clarinettists and spouse of Frederick Thurston, who premiered the Finzi-concerto in 1949. According to Hendrikx, “Thea must have witnessed the creation process. In her own hand, she scribbled helpful recommendations in my score, which may have been passed on from Thurston, if not from Finzi himself”. But there is more. On 27 April 1998, Thea King bequeathed to Hendrikx the letters Finzi had written to her late husband between 1948 and 1953: they document the first ideas for the concerto, its genesis, and its growing post-premiere fame. These letters enable Hendrikx to go beyond the notes of the concerto, meet the protagonists, and do some sightseeing in the music’s spatiotemporal context. The Finzi-Thurston letters are extensively dealt with in the liner notes to this album, which is a veritable tribute to the concert clarinet: Hendrikx and the London Philharmonic Orchestra pay homage to a genre, its gems, and its genius performers. © EPR-Classic