Julius Röntgen

[Richergar]

Since I am new here and haven't really looked through the archives yet, I hope I'm excused if I'm repeating a previously covered composer, but the Dutch Julius Rontgen is someone worth exploring if you have not.  I became aware of him initially in the book of interviews with Casals from the mid 50s (I think) called "Conversations with Casals" (and which seems to form the basis of most of the subsequent biographies. Casals is questioned in a lot of detail and gives pretty clear answers to most questions and when he's asked about contemporary (for him - he was born in 1876, you have to remember) composers, Rontgen is one of the three to whom a lot of space and time are devoted. Tovey is another (and Tovey is REALLY worth not only a listen (in the new edition on cd) but a careful read).

There seems to have been something of a Rontgen resurgence on cd in recent years, but as far as I'm aware almost nothing of the large scale works and only very occasionally do you see a chamber piece.

I am currently listening on you tube to his scenes from Faust, but the place to start I think is with the cello concerto that is there (even more than the sonata).

I will  poke around in my collection - I have a few Dutch cds - to see what more exists, but he is a composer who in style and I think, in his ability to tackle big topics (sic), reminds me of Busoni, although = Lord forgive me for saying so - Busoni can seem a little turgid, and the music doesn't always flow easily......that's not the issue to my ears with Mr. Rontgen.

[Balapoel]

Röntgen is definitely one of my favorite unsungs (and indeed one of my favorite composers of any kind). Consistently high quality - I would recommend any piece by him - and I have all of the recorded ones.

[Alan Howe]

See this page at jpc for an overview of the recordings available - and do try the audio excerpts on offer:
http://www.jpc.de/s/rontgen

[Revilod]

I agree that the Second Cello Concerto (the one on youtube) is a superb work. It's not Dvorak or Elgar but it is definitely a match for Saint-Saens 1 for example.

[semloh]

I agree that it's a fine work, as indeed are the other two cello concertos, and I prefer them to Saint-Saens, but - as you say - not in the same league as the Elgar.

Beethoven was the first (I think?) to begin a piano concerto with an extended solo, but I'm not sure how many cello concertos begin in that fashion. Was the Röntgen 2nd unique in that respect, or are there earlier examples? I can't recall any off-hand.

[eschiss1]

Well, there's almost Mozart's 9th, though it doesn't exactly begin with the piano solo. And I don't know the pre-Classical history (or even all the Classical history) of the piano concerto well enough to say...
Unique- doubt it, but can't think of an example just offhand either of another cello concerto where the first thing you hear is the cello and the whole orchestra has quite a bit of rest. A string quartet (Bax 2), yes, but not a concerto...

[JimL]

The Elgar begins with quite an extended solo, although it is very subtly accompanied by the basses in the orchestra, so you could say that solo and orchestra begin simultaneously.  The Pembaur Cello Concerto starts out with a dialogue between the solo and orchestra, initiated by the soloist.  Those are the only two cello concertos I can think of offhand that start out with the soloist.  You could count Saint-Saëns 1, which starts out with that crashing orchestral chord followed by the cello playing the principal theme of the first movement over a string tremelo.

[Gauk]

Röntgen's music I find unfailingly genial and attractive. It was interesting to note that his "Edinburgh" symphony was rediscovered a couple of years ago - I look forward to hearing that!

[Josh]

Beethoven was the first (I think?) to begin a piano concerto with an extended solo, but I'm not sure how many cello concertos begin in that fashion. Was the Röntgen 2nd unique in that respect, or are there earlier examples? I can't recall any off-hand.

I know this sort of thing (having the solo instrument start out before the orchestra) wasn't unheard of among Italian composers of the late 18th century. Salieri's Triple Concerto opens with the violin alone for a second, and then there was Giovanni Giornovichi who did this several times. His Violin Concerto #3 has the violin completely alone for several measures.  There was an Italian composer (possibly more than one) who did the same with a piano concerto prior to Beethoven, and I thought I'd just start typing this message and quickly look up his name. Unfortunately, I can't find it right now, and the message board where I'd put the information up years ago is long gone, so I don't even have that to go on. I do know that I didn't have any work by that composer in my rather large music collection, and didn't even recognise his name at the time.  I think I probably know the name, I just can't remember which composer it was!

But cello concerto? You don't have to even get off super-famous composers to find one of those!  Vivaldi's Cello Concerto in A minor, RV.420.  Italian composers did a fair amount of that stuff dating back even into the Baroque!  Also check out Vivaldi's Concerto for Cello and Bassoon, where the two soloists hang out by themselves for a really long time (relative to the length of the entire piece) .

[JimL]

In the Vivaldi Concerto for 4 violins in B minor (transcribed by Bach into the Concerto for 4 harpsichords in A minor) the soloists start out first.

[Alan Howe]

We're getting way off-track here - and into an era way outside our remit...

[semloh]

We're getting way off-track here - and into an era way outside our remit...

Well, my fault really, Alan, for inviting examples of earlier cello concertos etc.... anyway, issue resolved, thanks to the respondents! 

[JollyRoger]

I had been enjoying the work of Roentgen for a number of years. But I did not think of him as extraordinary until I heard his numbered symphonys 3.8 and 13 to be exact. Now I will go back and rehear everything!

[John H White]

I do hope CPO will soon get round to issuing a recording of the Edinburgh Symphony in there series of Roentgen symphonies, as Tovey is very enthusiastic about it in his Essays in Musical Analysis. After all, it was written for his orchestra in Edinburgh.