Favorite Cello Recordings

 

 

Early Music (before 1600)

 

Various versions of the famous tune La folia, going back as far as the year 1500, performed on viola da gamba (a predecessor of the cello) with famous gambist Jordi Savall. Order here.

 

A cornucopia of gamba music called "Tous Les Matins du Monde" performed by Savall. Order here.

 

Baroque Period (1600-1750)

 

"The Violoncello in the Seventeenth Century" performed by Anner Bylsma. Order here. This recording includes a wonderful set of solo cello pieces by Domenico Gabrielli and a fantastic sonata (with organ here) by Jacchini. Bylsma is probably the world's leading Baroque cellist and is wonderful in this recording.

 

Sonatas for two violas da gamba by Johannes Schenck performed by Les Voix Humaines. Order here.

 

A recording of music for viola da gamba and theorbo by French composer Marin Marais performed by gambist Hille Perl. Order here.

 

Antonio Vivaldi Cello Sonatas with Bylsma. Order here. The Vivaldi Sonatas are absolutely standard repertoire for cellists, and all students learn at least one. The third and fifth are best known, but my favorite is the fourth.

 

Vivaldi Cello Concertos with Christophe Coin. Order here.

 

J.S. Bach, Six Suites for Cello Alone performed by Anner Bylsma. Order here. Well, nothing in the cello repertoire is more basic than these pieces. Every cellist learns all six of these; the first is often learned at the early intermediate stage. Most people know recordings by Yo-Yo Ma or Rostropovich, but no one matches the whimsy and authenticity (I think) of the Bylsma set.

 

C.P.E. Bach Cello Concertos performed by Bylsma. Order here. These are extraordinary pieces by one of J.S. Bach's sons, a real genius of classical style.

 

Classical Period (1750-1800)

 

Franz Joseph Haydn, Two Concerti for Cello performed by Mstislav Rostropovich. Order here. I adore this recording of these wonderful pieces. Rostropovich's cadenza in the first movement of the D Major concerto still astounds me every time I hear it.

 

Ludwig van Beethoven, Five Sonatas for Cello and Piano performed by Rostropovich. Order here. Another chestnut of the standard repertoire of the cello. I grew up with the Du Pre recording (with Daniel Barenboim at the keyboard), which left me cold. This recording is quite the opposite: warm and sensuous, despite Beethoven's quirky treatment of the form in most of the sonatas. Of the five, the A Major is by far the most substantial.

 

Romantic Period (1800-1912)

 

Johannes Brahms Two Sonatas for Cello performed by Yo-Yo Ma. Order here.

 

Brahms Double Concerto for Violin and Cello performed by Raphael Wallfisch (with violinist Lydia Mordkovitch). Order here.

 

Antonin Dvorak Cello Concerto performed by Janos Starker (with the Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations). The Dvorak is rightly known as the "king of cello concertos." Order here.

 

Camille Saint-Saens Cello Concerto No. 1 performed by Rostropovich (with the Dvorak Concerto). Order here.

 

Edward Elgar Cello Concerto performed by Jacqueline du Pre. (This recording is prominently heard in Hilary and Jackie, a movie about du Pre). Order here.

 

Sergei Rachmaninoff Cello Sonata performed by Yo-Yo Ma (with the Prokofiev Sonata). Order here.

 

Twentieth Century Music (1912-1999)

 

Dmitri Shostakovitch Concerto No. 1 for Cello performed by Yo-Yo Ma. Order here.

 

Zoltan Kodaly Sonata for Solo Cello, and Duo for Violin and Cello performed by Yuli Turovsky--both amazing, and amazingly difficult, pieces. Order here.

 

Benjamin Britten Suites for Solo Cello, and the Cello Sonata performed by Rostropovich (with Britten on piano in the sonata). Order here.

 

Samuel Barber Cello Concerto performed by Yo-Yo Ma (with Britten Cello Symphony). Order here.

 

For a real trip, check out this disc of music by Sofia Gubaidulina, which includes Ten Preludes and a Quartet for cellos that will raise the hair on the back of your neck. Cellist Alexander Ivashkin is extraordinary. Order here.

 

A great overview of the 20th Century cello repertoire can be found on this three-disc set, called "The Twentieth Century Cello" with Matt Haimovitz. It's got major works by Britten, Debussy, Hindemith, Webern, Crumb, Dutilleux, Berio and Roger Sessions, and many others, besides. Apart from the Britten Suites, which I love, my favorites in the set are the Ligeti Sonata and the Harbison Suite. Order here.

 

Two cello concertos, by Dutilleux and Lutoslawski, performed by Rostropovich in this historic recording. Order here.

 

Wonderful recording of extraordinary cellist Alexander Ivashkin (who wrote a biography of the composer) playing the Concertos and Sonatas of Alfred Schnittke. Order here.