August Nölck: Cello Concerto

[mikehopf]

Having downloaded a CD of Nolck's delightful works for cello and piano,  I was curious to hear his cello concerto available on youtube.

A very lush and  tuneful concerto with notable Spanish influences. Strongly recommended

As professor of cello and piano, Nölck ( 1862 - 1928) composed over three hundred works that included concertos, whims, waltzes, concertina, gavottes, minuets, mazurkas, funeral marches, and the like. However, due to the two World Wars in Germany and political divisions of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, only his works produced in Venezuela have been recovered.

Nölck was part of the Dresden School of cello playing, which included Friedrich Wilhelm Grützmacher, who formed a foundation for the modern school of technique represented by Pablo Casals, Emanuel Feuermann, and others. Nölck's music reflects the Romantic styles of Brahms, Schumann, and Mendelssohn.[1]

[Alan Howe]

The Cello Concerto is available here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWp0YV6HGV4

[Alan Howe]

...it's very pleasant.

[eschiss1]

I'm fairly sure he wrote several cello concertos, of which at least 2 are in A minor- was enough information provided to more definitely identify the work in question than Nölck "cello concerto"?

[Mark Thomas]

Yes, lush and tuneful certainly, and an enjoyable listen as a result, but also lacking any real individuality. I see that it wasn't actually orchestrated by Nölck, but by Alfredo Rugeles. Maybe that contributes to the anonymity?

[eschiss1]

Ah. Ok, this seems to be his concerto Op.130a (and note that the video says "No YouTube"? To paraphrase Arthur Dent, this is some new definition of the word "No" with which we were previously unfamiliar.) It might be the concerto by Nölck whose score and parts are @ FLP (no opus number was given), though I don't recall any indication there of orchestration undertaken by other hands. (Not Op.108 which is in D minor, or Op.130b in D (major?), but the FLP one might be one of his student concertos or some other A minor concerto of his... there's also a student concerto for violin in A minor op.246, btw., and that's just to the extent that the definitely incomplete list @ IMSLP lists things...)

[Alan Howe]

It's not a great piece, frankly. It's attractive, certainly, but it meanders to no great ultimate effect. Of course, there are very few strong candidates in the category 'Romantic Cello Concerto', but this is substantially lower in quality than the Fitzenhagen concertos (forthcoming from Hyperion). I'm hoping that the Castro CC will be a worthy contender...

[Mark Thomas]

I don't recall any indication there of orchestration undertaken by other hands

Eric, I was only taking on trust the notes to the YouTube video. As for the music itself, a second hearing confirms that there are no hidden depths. 

[Wheesht]

I'm afraid it's no great shakes as a piece of music: there are some powerful moments, but they sound rather incongruous in the context of a virtuoso showpiece. Certainly worth recording, but there must be better stuff than this...

Alan, in view of your earlier statement about Fitzenhagen's CC No 2, the Nölck seems hardly worth a thought (or a listen)?

[eschiss1]

My own favorite unsung cello concertos are mostly outside the Romantic orbit (which is not to say that they are anti- or entirely un-Romantic, just that they would be bounced from this forum or the Hyperion series), which may well be compatible with that statement, or may just say that the best unsung Romantic concertos for cello require discovery.

(I need to listen to the 2 Raff concertos again in any case. And to some of those that have been discussed in this forum which I _think_ I've heard- and enjoyed- but may not have even heard yet, e.g. the Reinecke...)

[Mark Thomas]

Needless to say, Eric, I think that the two Raff cello concertos, and particularly the through-composed First, are amongst the best of the romantic cello concertos which are currently outside the repertoire.

[eschiss1]

Understandably, and I tend to agree. The Moeran and Myaskovsky concertos seem to me to belong in style and also in quality (and aren't sung enough to be disqualified, yet) - but I'd also agree that at this point an old thread is being revisited or a new one should be started

[Alan Howe]

Alan, in view of your earlier statement about Fitzenhagen's CC No 2, the Nölck seems hardly worth a thought (or a listen)?

Oh, the Fitzenhagen's pretty minor fare, but the Nölck meanders and meanders. I nearly went to sleep. Worth a listen? Oh, sure. And I'm pleased for anyone who finds more in any of this stuff than me. But, as Mark suggests, there's better stuff than this elsewhere. Raff wrote two fine CCs and, as I said before, I'm hoping that the Castro due out on Sterling will be of a higher compositional quality.

[mikehopf]

I've had the Castro Cello Concerto for some years and , indeed, it is available on youtube for those who wish to hear it now.

To my untrained ear it is not half as tuneful as the Nolck. But, those with more musical training and expertise will probably disagree.

[Alan Howe]

Thanks for the info re. the Castro CC - I had no idea it was on YouTube. To my ears there's a huge difference between the two pieces: the Castro makes one really sit up and listen, such is the vigour and individuality of its opening movement, whereas the Nölck huffs and puffs to little effect and soon gets lost in virtuoso 'noodling'. The second subject is initially attractive but goes nowhere, and so it continues.

Sorry to disagree, but there we are...

Here's a link to the Castro for those interested:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfZQG6EW94s&list=RDhfZQG6EW94s#t=72