Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra No. 1

Dmitri Shostakovich wrote his first Cello Concerto for Mstislav Rostropovich in 1959. Premiered on October 4, 1959 in Leningrad with the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Yevgeny Mravinsky, the four-movement work impresses with its formal clarity, rhythmic splendor and high soloistic virtuosity. The memorable main motif of the first movement recurs throughout the work like an idiom. The slow second movement is dominated by lyrical depth, while the cadenza of the third movement almost takes on the character of an independent movement. The finale combines a folk tone with ironic refractions. Shostakovich deliberately kept the orchestra small and seems to have based it less on the opulent instrumentation of Elgar's Cello Concerto, for example, and more on classical models.

This volume is part of the revised and corrected new edition of orchestral works by Dmitri Shostakovich published by Boosey & Hawkes and Sikorski. Published as large-format study scores, they ensure optimum readability. All scores and the accompanying orchestral material are available in new computer typesetting; the orchestral parts are also compatible with the scores of the New Shostakovich Complete Edition.