Reinhold Glière - Cello Concerto, Op. 87 (1947)

[@joshuagearing937]

These are some great uploads of Reinhold Gliere! I've never heard of him but I shall continue checking out his music :)

[@TheodoreServin]

Thank you for working so hard in the service of such beautiful and underrated music!

[@Miaskofiev]

According to the Gliere website, the Concerto was dedicated to Rostropovich but premiered by Knushevitsky in Moscow on 18 April 1947.

[@qp4135]

Thanks a lot for uploading this little-known concerto together with its score. I confess that I struggle to appreciate it entirely. The middle Andante is beautiful ; the final Allegro sounds like a concerto grosso in Prokofiev's style. However, I find the first movement mildly disappointing. The heavy lifting the soloist has to make, is a bother to the musical expression and to the dialog between the orchestra and the cello solo. Those multiple chords (that would maybe be impressive in a violin concerto) sound painful at best. The lyrical parts are more interesting -- but the cello is often covered by the orchestra in this recording. This movement reminds me of Prokofiev's Sinfonia Concertante: it takes a heck of a cellist to sound good and balanced throughout.

[@eugenprochac9014]

Shostakovich wrote that in his autobiography made together with Mr, Volkov. Read that please. I did not say Gliére is a bad composer, just not great. Cello concerto is an example. I agree, he has better pieces.

[@jujusiino]

Thanks for uploading? May I ask where you obtained the sheet music? Could you send it to me?

[@lllllxyzllll]

Thanks a lot! But it looks like the concerto was dedicated to Knushevitsky.

[@bartjebartmans]

Where did you find that info? I saw at several places Rostropovich's name. Although he never recorded it.

[@lllllxyzllll]

@@bartjebartmans I saw this info on Russian websites: violamusic.me/noty-dlya-violoncheli/glier-koncert-87-violoncel.html and here ru.qwe.wiki/wiki/Reinhold_Gli%C3%A8re

[@bartjebartmans]

Thanks! I changed it. On his wiki page it says Myaskovsky, Khachaturian and Gliere dedicated their cello concertos to him.

[@gwydionrhys7672]

@@bartjebartmans I once heard a Radio 3 Composer of the Week podcast on Glière, and it talked about this concerto. At the premiere, Knushevitsky caused a stir by coming to a dead stop during the music, taking sheets of music off his stand, and shoving them under his chair with his feet. Rostropovich was actually in the audience for this premiere, sitting next to Glière. Witnessing what Knushevitsky was doing, Glière turned to the young cellist and said "I want you to play this concerto the way it should be played". Rostropovich agreed, provided that Knushevitsky perform the concerto a second time first (so that he had a chance to redeem himself). After Rostropovich had played the concerto, he received a telephone call from Glière, asking the young cellist for permission to dedicate the concerto to him - the first time that any work was dedicated to Rostropovich.

[@farinafranqui]

Please tell me where you found this sheet music, I really want to play this.

[@stychus5603]

Thank you for uploading this! Does anyone know where I can find the score?

[@jimmywalsh6701]

👌

[@jeanghika7653]

R. M. Glière n'était pas d'origine germano-polonaise. Vous n'avez qu'à regarder l'accent grave sur son nom. Il était d'origine belge. Il était allé en Russie Impériale et, la Révolution survenant, la porte s'est refermée sur lui.

[@bartjebartmans]

Glière was born in Kiev, Russian Empire. He was the second son of the wind instrument maker Ernst Moritz Glier (1834-1896) from Saxony (Klingenthal), who emigrated to the Russian Empire and married Józefa (Josephine) Korczak (1849-1935), the daughter of his master, from Warsaw. His original name, as given in his baptism certificate, was Reinhold Ernest Glier. About 1900 he changed the spelling and pronunciation of his surname to Glière, which gave rise to the legend, stated by Leonid Sabaneyev for the first time (1927), of his French or Belgian descent.

[@eugenprochac9014]

Exactly, like Shostakovich said, Gliére was a good, solid person, but not a great composer...

[@bartjebartmans]

Would like to know when and where Shostakovich said that. Gliere's 3rd Symphony is one of the great masterpieces of the Symphonic repertoire. The score is a marvel of orchestration, holding up to the best of Ravel, Stravinsky and Rimsky to name a few.