It's arguably the best cello concerto ever penned, and I consider it as my absolute favorite. It blends nobility, melancholy, heroism, accurate instrumental assignation, memorable melodies and the touch of genius, it expresses the soul of the instrument as no other concerto can (and I dare to say not even the Elgar reaches that (a subjective view, I know)). I can't find any bad thing about it, it's practically perfect to my ears. My favorite recordings are Rostropovich-Karajan and Du Pré-Barenboim.

 

I'll just say ditto. Except that the Fournier Szell is about as good as it gets.

 

The greatest cello concerto although I love the Elgar too.
The recordings of the Dvorak I have:

Fournier, Szell (cond.), Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (1961)
Rostropovich, Karajan (cond.), Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (1968)
Casals, Szell (cond.), Czech Philharmonic Orchestra (1937)
Rostropovich, Talich (cond.), Czech Philharmonic Orchestra (1951)
Du Pré, Barenboim (cond.), Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra (1970)
Piatigorsky, Munch (cond.), Boston Symphony Orchestra (1960)

All very good. If I to choose one it is Rostropovich / Karajan

 

There's a recording with Emanuel Feuermann and Michael Taube in Berlin where they take it very quickly, I don't know how performers' decisions about speed were reached.

 

That's one of my favorites. My absolute favorite is his 1941 recording with Leo Barzin. Better sound and a more free interpretation. I also like Casals/Szell and Rostropovich/Talich.

 

Dvorak is a favourite composer of mine (easily top 10), and I love concertos in general and cello concertos in particular. And yet, this particular work never really clicked with me. I could easily pick a dozen cello concertos I prefer to it.

 

It is a good concerto for an instrument that didn't get many concertos written for it until Rostropovich invited everyone to write for him - which led to numerous masterpieces. I'm happy with the list of recordings in the OP.

 

One of my absolute favorite works - the first LP I ever bought was Rostropovich/Boult on Seraphim.

I like the usual suspects - Rostropovich/Talich, Casals/Szell, Queyras/Belohavek - but there are a number of lesser known cellists who have made superb recordings - Angelica May (with Neumann, CzPO), Michaela Fukacova (with Belohlavek, Prague SO), Miklos Perenyi (with Fischer, Budapest Festival Orchestra). Alisa Weilerstein and the late Jiri Belohlavek made a fine recent recording with the Czech PO for Decca.

 

An epic work, by consensus among the masterpieces for the instrument. I first heard it on the Rostropovich/Ozawa recording, and used to have the Feuermann/Barzin and Fournier/Scherchen. I currently have Schiff/Davis which took a bit of getting used to, coming across less heroic and more gentle.

Rostropovich kind of owned this piece. I’ve often related the story of how he performed it with tears in his eyes when visiting the UK. It was 1968, at the time of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. It took on political dimensions, becoming a requiem for the Czech people.

On a personal note, I’ve always thought of the coda as a huge orgasm. I wasn’t surprised to see it used exactly for that effect in The Witches of Eastwick, the scene where Susan Sarandon is playing it on cello as instructed by the devil, Jack Nicholson.

 

My favorite concerto along with the Violin and Double Concertos of Brahms.

Preferred versions: Fournier/Szell/Berlin Philharmonic; Starker/Dorati/London Symphony; Gendron/Haitink/London Philharmonic; Harrell/Levine/London Symphony

 

Rostropovich kind of owned this piece. I've often related the story of how he performed it with tears in his eyes when visiting the UK. It was 1968, at the time of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. It took on political dimensions, becoming a requiem for the Czech people.

This performance is available on CD:

 

My favourite version is Janos Starker and Dorati. I like the balance between the orchestra and soloist. I also have Fournier, Casals, Rostropovich.

 

I didn't like the work before I heard A. Pappano with Mario Brunello - just terrific. It's the only recording I listen to even though I also have Queyras on H.M. and Yo-Yo Ma with Lorin Maazel and the BPO on Sony.

There is also a beautiful piece "Silent Woods" from opus 68 which Ma plays on the Sony recording I mentioned.

 

I listened to it as a young collector and enjoyed Rostopovich with Karajan but it fell out of favor with me. When I voted in the Gramophone poll of the top 100 recordings of the 20th century it was the only one I voted for that made the list.

Today I much prefer the Haydn concertos, Victor Herbert's Concerto No. 2, Beethoven's Triple Concerto & Offenbach's "Military" Concerto to the Dvorak. This isn't commentary on the quality of the Dvorak, just the rotation of my preference.

 

I like the 2014 recording by Alisa Weilerstein with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.

Rocky

 

For anyone who loves this work - and for those that don't - this is a terrific podcast:

https://stickynotespodcast.libsyn.com/dvorak-cello-concerto

The podcaster, Joshua Weilerstein, is Alisa Weilerstein's brother, and I assume that he's using her recording for musical illustration.

 

Had to take a look; I've got Fournier/Szell, Rostropovich/Karajan, Du Pré/Barenboim, and Ma/Masur. Guess I'm better stocked than I thought.

 

I listened to Du Pre/Barenboim a couple of days ago, and was disappointed with it. It all sounded overwrought.

 

A complete performance on YouTube: Gautier Capuçon, Paavo Jarvi, Orchestre de Paris

Charming comment in the comment section re/ Capuçon:


Andy Oppel 2 years ago

Last night I heard Gautier Capuçon masterfully perform the Dvořák Cello Concerto with the Prague Philharmonia in San Francisco. After intermission, the orchestra returned to perform Dvořák's Symphony No. 8, and in the middle of the cello section, there was Gautier Capuçon, playing along with the rest of the section as if he was just a regular member of the orchestra. Quite a pleasant surprise.

 

just simply the best cello concerto of the romantic era; very exciting, dynamic, full of marvelous moments; it is owned by rostropovich-karajan; other great versions IMHO are with Isserlis, Du Pré, Mork, Weilerstein, Queyras; it will stand the test of time, forever

 

i think the rotation of your preference is heading in the wrong direction; you have identified a masterpiece by dvorak, so you need to identify more recent cello masterpieces; there are many; more than hundred according to my blogspot

 

For those for whom such things matter, the DG Fournier/Szell was planned as Rostropovich/Szell; but a scheduling problem forced the Fournier substitution.

 

There are live broadcasts of Rostropovich and Szell with the Cleveland Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic.

 

Alisa Weilerstein/Czech Philharmonic Orchestra is my personal favorite. The links in the music to Dvorak's sister-in-law's illness and death are extremely moving and lift the work into to the sublime category.

 

Fortunately, there are some musicians/interpreters that develop a character that we may recognize as more individual or even unexpected. Obviously, this is usually a common characteristic of any great musical talent but sometimes we are surprised by those that took it a bit further and many times were even criticized by their peculiar interpretation "freedom" - we may just remember a few like Cortot and Horowitz, Mengelberg and Stokowski or Hubermann and Gitlis.

Danil Shafran may be one of these outsiders, for years an almost unknown name overshadowed by the Great Rostropovich. But Shafran was never afraid of discovering his own reading of a musical piece and some of his interpretations may reveal an individual genius, with such a unique cello voice and musical phrasing that even Rostropovich had some difficulty to acknowledge. Shafran was never a protégé of the Soviet regime and unfortunately most of his recordings are difficult to get and have poor sound. He left at least 3 recordings of the Dvorak concerto, one live at the Moscow Conservatory in 1980, with the young Mariss Jansons conducting.

 

1st Choice:

2nd Choice:

For a more modern recording my choice would be:

Alisa Weilerstein (cello)
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Jiří Bělohlávek
Catalogue No: 4785705
Label: Decca

 

This is one of my three "holy grails" of concerti, along with the Rachmaninoff 3rd piano concerto and the Sibelius (or possibly Brahms) violin concerto. I didn't get it through my first several listens, but the Fournier/Szell recording made it click for me, even though that one is no longer my favorite. It's one of the few concerti that have an equal role for the soloist and orchestra, and I appreciate that. I also find the ending to be one of the greatest in all classical music. Now my favorite (of the admittedly few that I've heard) is Du Pre/Barenboim. Call it syrupy romantic fare, but it's just so opulently expressive that I can't resist it.

 

Weilerstein and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra is a great one but I have a big soft spot for this one, that's not as widely known.

 

Weilerstein and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra is a great one but I have a big soft spot for this one, that's not as widely known.

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That is a good one - always a pleasure to listen to. Have you tried Queyras with Belohlavek? I really like it and it comes with a great Dumky.

 

Supposedly Brahms, on hearing this concerto remarked “Why on earth didn’t I know that one could write a cello concerto like this? Had I known, I would have written one long ago.”