The Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85, by Sir Edward Elgar was written for the most part during the summer of 1919 at Brinkwells, a cottage near Sussex. The composer conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in the first performance at Queen’s Hall, London, on 27 October 1919, with Felix Salmond as soloist.
Though large orchestral forces are required, they are used with restraint giving the work the character and intimacy of chamber music.
The Concerto begins unconventionally with a grand set of chords from the soloist alone. This opening idea is not the first movement’s principal theme, but a ‘motto’ that recurs at various critical junctures as the work unfolds.
In due course the violas introduce the movement’s main subject, a wandering theme which is taken up by cello and orchestra in turn. A pastoral-sounding central section, introduced by clarinet and cello in dialogue, does nothing to break the autumnal mood. As the movement softly ends, there is a pizzicato reference to the cello’s ‘motto’.
After a thoughtful assessment of its main theme by the cellist, the second movement begins. Unsettled and nervous, it is a reminder that, for all Elgar’s outward self-confidence, he was sensitive, vulnerable and highly strung. A lyrical, halting secondary idea attempts to break through, but it is never developed sufficiently to deflect the cello from its bustling moto perpetuo.
The beautiful slow movement is founded upon the expansive opening theme issued by the cello, which plays virtually without pause throughout the movement, accompanied only by strings, clarinets, bassoons and horns. Here the solo line assumes the character of a human voice, its utterances broken and punctuated by sighs.
This profound movement ends with considerable pathos and the music moves without a break into an introductory passage for the Finale in which various phrases and thematic fragments are tried out. The cello has a short cadenza, recalling the ‘motto’. Then the finale gets under way, the orchestra giving out the movement’s main, march-like theme, which exudes an air of decisiveness and resolve. Finally the soloist is moved to give out the work’s opening ‘motto’ one last time before the march-tune cuts in to bring this searching, elusive Concerto to a beautiful close.
Here is cellist Sol Gabetta to play this music for you:
