User:Ailemaretnip1301/Dmitri Kabalevsky's Cello Concertos

Dmitri Kabalevsky's Cello Concertos

Background
Dmitri Kabalevsky was a Russian composer who lived during the Twentieth Century, from 1904-1987. He was primarily a pianist and composer for piano, however he also wrote two concertos for cello and orchestra. Kabalevsky had a career as a music educator, composer and member of the International Society for Music Education (ISME). He was elected Vice President of the ISME in 1968, during the 8th conference meeting held in Dijon, France. He also had political prestige because of his efforts to reform music education in Soviet Russia. For example, he was awarded the Order of Lenin for his work in education. He received an additional Medal of Honor from the Soviet Government "for his musical prowess." It is generally accepted that a composer's context has a great influence on their compositions. Kabalevsky's life in Russia during the time of the USSR and his career as a music teacher, for example, held particular influences on his works, particularly on his Cello Concertos. Similarly, the war and post-war context brought new inspiration to many composers as seen by the number of famous compositions that came out of this time. Other famous pieces that came out of the period include some of the works by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Dmitri Shostakovich and Samuel Barber (amongst many others). The cello gained particular attention during this time with the composition of several Cello pieces such as Prokofiev's Cello Concerto and Shostakovich's pair of Cello Concertos. The Twentieth Century brought about a new style which Kabalevsky referred to in his cello concertos known as neoclassicism. This style came about during the inter-war period, where innovation in music was less desirable and where tradition took precedence. The neoclassical style was not rigid in traditional forms however, and there was some room for experimentation.

Concerto
A concerto is a piece of music highlighting the stylistic qualities of a particular instrument through solo playing with the accompaniment of an orchestra. Another main feature of the concerto is the cadenza, which is a section of the piece often written by the soloist which fits within any or all or some of the movements. Throughout time, concertos have varied in their form and instrumentation but the most traditional and commonly used structure is three movements, following a pattern of the first being fast, the second slow and the third fast again (usually faster than the first movement). The instrumentation of a concerto is commonly a traditional orchestra however there are some exceptions. A standard orchestral accompaniment in a concerto consists of string, woodwind, brass and percussion sections. The Kabalevsky Cello Concertos both follow traditional instrumentation, however, Cello Concerto No. 2 has a more innovative structure than No. 1 which does adhere to traditional concerto structure.

Cello Concerto 1
Cello concerto no. 1 is part of a trilogy of concertos by Kabalevsky and is considered to be the central piece of the trilogy. The other pieces in the trilogy are his Violin Concerto, written in 1948, and Third Piano Concerto, written in 1952. The three concertos were dedicated to students and young performers and were written in a style that was simple enough for a student to play yet challenging enough to progress their musicality and technique. Cello Concerto No. 1 was premiered in 1949 by Svyatoslav Knushevitsky, a famous Russian Cellist who was a student at the time. He was accompanied by the Moscow Conservatory Youth Orchestra.

The first cello concerto is in G Minor.

Cello Concerto no. 1 follows the traditional structure of a concerto as it has three movements, or sections, which follow a ‘fast-slow-fast’ pattern. The first section is an Allegro, which means ‘fast and lively’. It is followed by the second movement which is a Largo, meaning ‘slow’ and was dedicated to fallen Russian soldiers in World Wars 1 and 2. The third movement is an Allegro Molto, meaning ‘very swift’. As the Kabalevsky's 1st Cello Concerto was written for students, it is not as technically challenging as Concerto No. 2. It has as the features of a conventional concerto including a traditional structure and instrumentation. His use of melody and harmonic structure also followed tradition. Kabalevsky was generally praised by his audiences because of this and received a mostly positive reception to his Neoclassic style.

Kabalevsky drew inspiration from and was influenced by a number of things such as his context of living in Soviet Russia, the neoclassic style that came out of the inter-war period and his esteemed career as a music educator and professional. Some snippets of Eastern Folk Songs also feature in his 1st Cello Concerto.

Cello Concerto 2 (I will write this section of the page for the 2000 word version)
-         Key

-         Structure

-         Stylistic features

-         Influences