Concerto No. 2

Kalevi Aho's (b. 1949) concerto no. 2 for cello and orchestra (2013) is in five movements performed without a break. It begins with a swinging Berceuse, followed by a very quick, virtuosic Presto in 5/8 time. The heart of the concerto is the cadenza-like third movement, Adagio, dominated throughout by the soloist. A fairly short Allegretto is followed by the closing Epilogue. This has flashbacks to the opening movement, and they lead to a cadenza in which the soloist plays only flageolet notes and pizzicatos. The concerto ends with a virtuosic coda in 5/8 time evocative of the second movement.

Arto Noras gave the concerto its first performance with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra conducted by Osmo Vänskä in Naantali on June 5, 2014. It was a joint commission from the Naantali Music Festival and the Lahti Symphony Orchestra.

This product consists of the solo part (18 pages) and piano reduction by Kari Vehmanen (62 pages) - have a look inside by clicking “sample”. The concerto is scored for a fairly small orchestra. The instrumentation is 2(II=afl)2(II=ca)2(II=bcl)2-2200-bar-02-str and the orchestral material is available for hire from the publisher.