Cello Concerto No. 1, H. 196

Program notes

About the Work

Martinů’s First Cello Concerto belongs to his vibrant Paris years and, as the orchestra’s own note puts it, ‘an irresistible example of 1930s neoclassical music.’ He composed it in 1930, in his home town of Polička, at a time when he was deeply fascinated by Baroque music: by the drive and motor-rhythm of the concerto grosso, and that energy courses through the piece. It had a long evolution: Martinů reworked it in Paris in 1939 and revised it again in Nice in 1955, the version usually heard today.

The result is a concerto that marries Baroque vigour with twentieth-century harmony and a warm, songful Czech lyricism. The fast movements bustle with the busy, syncopated, perpetually-moving textures that are Martinů’s fingerprint, while the slow movement offers music of real tenderness and depth. It is a substantial, rewarding addition to the cello repertoire, not as often heard as the Dvořák concerto but a true hidden gem, and a perfect vehicle for a charismatic soloist like Sol Gabetta.

What to Listen For

Listen for the Baroque-inspired drive of the outer movements: the busy, motoric rhythms, the sense of constant forward motion, and the bracing dialogue between cello and orchestra. Martinů treats the orchestra almost like a Baroque concerto grosso, with the soloist weaving in and out of the texture. Notice his very personal orchestral sound, glittering and syncopated.

The heart of the concerto is its slow movement, a broad, deeply felt song for the cello, lyrical and warm, where Martinů’s Czech soul shows through the neoclassical surface. And listen for the soloist’s virtuosity throughout, including the cadenza. The cello sings almost continuously; let Gabetta’s warm, communicative tone guide you through a concerto that is by turns athletic, tender and exhilarating.