Cello Concertos of 1966

Album review

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