Showing respect for Mendelssohn

Cellists may sometimes look a little enviously at the violin literature. Of course, the cello literature includes Robert Schumann's profound Concerto in A minor. But does it also contain a "jewel of the heart", as Joseph Joachim described Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's Violin Concerto in E minor in 1906?

At least the Cello Concerto No. 1 in D minor op. 193 (1874) by Joachim Raff partially closes this supposed gap. Mendelssohn's Opus 64 was clearly the inspiration for it. The passionate entry of the solo instrument after two bars of orchestral introduction at the beginning, the brilliant cadenza at the end of the first movement, the flowing transition into the second movement, which is also in 6/8 meter, the lively rondo theme of the third movement: these are all elements in which the great model is audibly reflected. In the 3rd movement, Raff adds Paganini's perennial favorite Moto perpetuo op. 11.

The contemporary reviews were predominantly positive. However, in the 20th century, the proximity of this opus to Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto was sometimes criticized as unoriginal. Wrongly so! Raff's first cello concerto, dedicated to Friedrich Grützmacher, is a profound tribute and convincing homage to his great role model and offers the performers a rich palette of musical expression such as passionate cantilenas and brilliant passagework, which will not fail to have an effect on the audience.

The concerto has now been published by Breitkopf und Härtel in a new critical edition edited by Jonas Kreienbühl and Andrea Wiesli.

Joachim Raff: Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra No. 1 in D minor, edited by Jonas Kreienbühl and Andrea Wiesli, score, PB 5715, € 65.00, Breitkopf & Härtel, Wiesbaden