Soloist: Maisky, Mischa

Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Conductor: Bernstein, Leonard

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Composer: Schumann, Robert

Cello Concerto in A Minor, Op. 129

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Venue: Grosser Musikvereinssaal, Vienna

Playing Time: 00:25:35

Television Director: Burton, Humphrey

Catalogue Number: A05500476

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Robert Schumann wrote his Cello Concerto in Düsseldorf in only two weeks. He himself did not play the cello, a fact which is immediately apparent from his treatment of the solo part. Passages of sweeping lyricism contrast sharply with excruciatingly difficult technical passages quite unsuited to the instrument. They make the concerto one of the most fearsome in all of cello literature. Schumann never heard the concerto played in public: the first performance did not take place until four years after his death. Recorded in 1985/86 at the Grosser Musikvereinssaal in Vienna, this recording features world-renowned cellist Mischa Maisky as the soloist accompanied by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Leonard Bernstein.