Contemporary Classical Music by Frank Wilhoit

Concerto in D minor for Violoncello and Orchestra, Op. 29 (2010-2017)

This concerto is obviously primarily modelled upon the Brahms concerti, but its first movement reminds us that Brahms never wrote a real Beethovenian Allegro con brio. Where someone famously described the Brahms violin concerto as "a concerto for violin against orchestra -- and the violin wins!", this is a concerto for 'cello against orchestra, but the 'cello loses. The topic of contention is whether, as the soloist advocates, the work really ought to be in E-flat. The soloist is eventually convinced that D is the One True Key, but the orchestra's victory required great pertinacity, ingenuity, and guile.

NOTE @ 28 December 2017 The scores (full, and piano-reduction) and solo part are watermarked "pre-publication" because the solo part has not yet been edited and the possibility of revisions arising from the editing process cannot be ruled out.