Davydov (Davidoff?) Cello Concertos

[JimL]

Having come upon some money, I was finally able to pick up that cpo CD of the 3rd and 4th Cello Concertos of Karl Davydov.  My current project is to listen (in my car) to all 4 in order.  I have some problems with the balance on my old Olympia recording of the first 2 - Tarasova gets drowned out a bit too often, particularly at cadences, and the venue used was kind of echoey (is that a word?)  Cavernous, then.  I'd like to discuss these fine works.  Anybody game?

[Norbit]

Is that the Wen-Sinn Yang recording? I have separate recordings of most of the first two cello concertos but the recording of the second is from the Brilliant Classics Shafran box set and only contains the first two movements. Both pieces are nice and I think they stack up well against other cellist or violinist composers. My current preference is toward the second concerto.

I have listened to both the Yang CDs but that was my first time hearing them but I don't own them and none of the tunes have stuck but I recall being impressed at the time. After all, there have been much greater works that I have heard where the music didn't stick the first time around.

[JimL]

So far as I know the Yang CD of the 3rd and 4th were premiere recordings, at least on CD.  My CD of the first two was the Olympia with Marina Tarasova, which, I understand, has since been re-released by another label.  I, too, didn't find the 3rd and 4th as immediately catchy as the first two, but after repeated listening I have thoroughly assimilated them, and find them to be even more accomplished than their predecessors.  Davydov certainly improved on his developmental technique in the interim between the A minor and D Major concertos.  The E minor concerto of 1878 sounds, in spots, like the cello concerto Tchaikovsky never got around to composing.  In fact, there's a moment in the second subject of the first movement that I believe Tchaik cribbed for the second subject in the first movement of his PC 2.  And I can't get enough of that cakewalk finale!