Elgar - Cello Concerto. The only
cello concerto that Edward Elgar wrote, and one of the most famous concertos of
all time. Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85) as well as his last notable work
and the cornerstone of the solo cello repertoire. It was composed in the aftermath
of the First World War, when his music had already gone out of fashion with the
concert-going public. In contrast with Elgar's earlier Violin Concerto, which
is lyrical and passionate, the Cello Concerto is for the most part
contemplative and elegiac. The first performance was a debacle because Elgar
and the performers had been deprived of adequate rehearsal time. The work did
not achieve wide popularity until the 1960s, when a recording by Jacqueline du
Pré caught the public imagination and became a classical best-seller.