Featured Concerto: The Hartmann Cello Concerto Op. 57
Composed in 1935 and premiered by Paul Tortelier and the Boston Symphony in 1938, the Hartmann Cello Concerto was never recorded commercially and disappeared from the concert stage. Haimovitz, along with Maestro Dennis Russell Davies and Leipzig’s MDR have finally recorded the work live, to be released on the PENTATONE Oxingale Series. Haimovitz is dedicated to introducing this important and inspired work, by a composer born in Ukraine, to audiences far and wide and advocating for its place in the canon of beloved cello concerti.
Haimovitz’s musical journey took off in 1987 with his first recording of French Romantic Cello Concerti (by Saint Saens, Lalo, and Bruch), for the Deutsche Grammophon/Universal label. Along with the standard concerti, he has since performed and recorded a number of underrepresented Concerti by Isang Yun, David Sanford, Luna Pearl Woolf, and others. More to come in this series, all released on the PENTATONE Oxingale Series, include Schnitke’s Concerto No. 1, Lewis Spratlan’s Double Concerto for Cello, Piano, and Orchestra, and the world premiere recording of Martijn Padding’s work for Cello and Orchestra.
In the press
“Israeli-American cellist Matt Haimovitz next soloed in Ukrainian expatriate Thomas de Hartmann’s rarely heard 1935 cello concerto. Kuchar has led a recent revival of interest in de Hartmann’s music, in which Haimovitz has participated. Their familiarity with this score drew an incandescent reading from conductor, orchestra, and soloist. From a dramatic opening “Andante con brio,” and a dark, Klezmer-influenced “Solemne,” to a rhythmically complex, richly intoned “Allegro ma non troppo” finale, the whole concerto revels in the composer’s gift for colorful orchestration and his love of Eastern European dance idioms.”