I really love the sound of a cello. It has such a deep, mournful sound to me that reaches straight to the soul. Jeremy, by Lee Holdridge, has always been a firm favourite of mine ever since it's strains leapt off the LP and into my brain. Fort Saganne by Philippe Sarde, that's another beautiful one with some deep, emotive cello passages that stir my heart. Anyway, the reason I'm here. I'm sure there are many film scores with heavy cello I may already have (but have forgotten), or maybe I don't have... so what do I need to hear (or dig out) featuring this wonderful instrument? Your tips are welcome
Joe Hisaishi's Departures score and symphonic suite (performed below by the LSO with the composer on piano and conducting) features one of Joe's most beautiful melodies on cello:
And of course Williams' Memoirs of a Geisha and Seven Years in Tibet.
From Williams' Munich score we have a cello performing the melody on Thoughts of Home.
Me too, Kev. Philip Glass's The Secret Agent heavily features said instrument. As with a lot of Glass, its use is cerebral rather than romantic, but it's a spell-binding score.
I'm sure that you're familiar with Elgar's cello concerto as well, off topic though it may be.
Stored Memories & Monica's Theme from Williams AI features a beautiful (but oh so short) quote of the main theme on cello. And Michael Kamen's What Dreams My Come features some nice cello moments as well.
And Ennio Morricone recorded an album with Yo-Yo Ma. The Mission and Ecstasy of Gold are my favorites from that CD. Actually there are two versions of The Mission. One with orchestral accompaniment and one with just a piano accompaniment. Here's the orchestral version, but the piano version is my favorite:
Williams Angela's Ashes suite for cello and orchestra was reported to have been recorded when Yo Yo Ma recorded Williams Cello Concerto years ago, but Sony have yet to release it. A live performance is thankfully on YouTube:
Korngold's single-movement concerto is integral to the plot of DECEPTION, whose plot revolves around a virtuoso player (Paul Henreid) and the malicious composer (Claude Rains) who becomes involved with his wife.
Waxman's low-key love music in THE STORY OF RUTH epitomizes the sort of melancholy feeling you describe.
Thanks for the tips thus far, many of which I already own (all the Williams examples, plus the Craig Armstrong, Kamen and Tan Dun ones). TG, you give me far too much credit in the classical field. While I do enjoy many a classic work, I am a child of the Silver Screen and derive most of my musical nourishment from the film composers who have drip fed it to me over the years (in short, I am shamefully unaware of the Elgar Cello piece). Thanks anyway (and I will check it out on spotify or youtube)
There's nothing shameful about being (musically) a child of the silver screen. That phrase applies to many of us. The only shame would be in refusing to explore the wider world of classical music when time and opportunity permit.
In connection with the Elgar concerto, which is of course one of the supreme monuments of the literature, you might enjoy the 1998 biopic HILARY AND JACKIE, which purports to tell the story of the cellist Jacqueline du Pre, who was tragically stricken with multiple sclerosis at the height of her career. Although questionable on factual grounds, the movie has many insights into the stresses of music making at the highest levels. Fine performances from Emily Watson and Rachel Griffiths as Jacqueline and her sister.
Yes, as others have alluded to, John Williams is really obsessed with the cello (both in film scores and concert works), and he was the first one to spring to mind when I read this topic. Maybe it's something to do with his intense love of trees, I don't know. So I urge you to check out some of the recommendations above.
Steve Jablonsky's Ender's Game has some wonderful cello work, many people I think were too harsh reviewing this score. I thought it was one of the best uses of cello last year.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has some lovely moving cello by Yo Yo Ma.
Yoko Kanno's score to the Vision of Escaflowne TV series has some fantastic cello work by her spouse at the time of recording Hajime Mizoguchi. The second OST has one of my favourite darker cello tracks called Shadow of Doubt which is used for a darker character in the series.
Also Hajime Mizoguchi's Jin-Roh has some very moving cello pieces worth listening to as well.
A liittle score which probably no one has heard of is the one by Pinar Toprak to THE RIVER MURDERS. I first read about this on James Southall's excellent review site Moviewave and promptly bought it. It is a wonderful score with the cello front and centre in most tracks. Check out the blurb on the SAE Site. Very melancholic but one of the best things I've heard in a long time.
TG, you give me far too much credit in the classical field. While I do enjoy many a classic work, I am a child of the Silver Screen and derive most of my musical nourishment from the film composers who have drip fed it to me over the years (in short, I am shamefully unaware of the Elgar Cello piece). Thanks anyway (and I will check it out on spotify or youtube)
Please do, Kev. It's half an hour of some of the finest music I know. The Du Pre versions are often felt to be the most listen-worthy, but I've yet to hear a bad interpretation - including a music student who was busking it in Eastbourne in the early 90s. Never forgotten it, not least because I was sufficiently moved to give her a whole pound sterling in her cello case, an action of generosity on my part rarely equalled and never beaten!
It's exactly the right time of year to listen to it as well, and I dare say with your half century around the corner your thoughts might even have been turning autumnal, which makes you perfectly receptive to this masterpiece.
Pushing my luck here, but the other cello work I love is Shostakovich's first cello concerto, a rhythmic and frenetic piece which is a similar length but otherwise a complete contrast to the Elgar. They both attack at the start, but where Sir Edward takes the path that leads to dappled late-year sunlight in the Malvern foothills, Shostakovich builds his half hour around various distorted death and signature themes that appear in some of his other works. I saw this played in London by Rostropovich (its dedicatee), conducted by Dmitri's son Maxim. As authentic a performance as could be imagined.
We, too, are very fond of cello works and particularly enjoyed John Williams' Seven Years in Tibet before our music collection branched so deeply into classical works. It remains a great score and whilst I don't rave about the album Maestro Morricone produced of his works with celebrated cellist, Yo-Yo Ma, that too is an enjoyable listen.
As TG has intimated, there are (cello) wonders to be discovered in the classical field, far and apart from the renowned Elgar concerto (I find I prefer the 1957 recording by André Navarra (with the Hallé Orchestra) to the popular Jacqueline du Pré 1965 recording (with the LSO), both under the baton of John Barbirolli) but I would also steer you away from this particular concerto ...
... the aforementioned Dvorák Cello Concerto in B minor, Op.104 is truly wonderful (I now have several (!) recordings) ... Again, TG (beat me to it) suggests Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No.1 in E-flat major, Op.107
and, perhaps lesser known, I enjoy those I have by Robert Schumann, Frederick Delius, Joseph Haydn, Luigi Boccherini, Camille Saint-Saëns and, especially, Matthias Georg Monn.
But further: so far these suggested works are concertos (concerti). Try smaller works and it pays dividends ...
Both Sergei Rachmaninov and César Franck produced Cello sonatas (cello + piano) of exquisite beauty and there are works in this category by the greats, such as Beethoven and Brahms.
Or go for the solo cello: Bach composed a set of six suites for unaccompanied cello - it doesn't get more pure.
And there are plenty of Piano and String Trios/Quartets, etc. which feature the instrument.
... the aforementioned Dvorák Cello Concerto in B minor, Op.104 is truly wonderful (I now have several (!) recordings)
I'm familiar with the Dvorak and enjoy it when I'm listening to it, but I don't feel any personal connection to it. It's maybe just too early chronologically for me. By and large I like stuff with a 19 in front of it rather than an 18. (How's that for prejudice?!)
Or go for the solo cello: Bach composed a set of six suites for unaccompanied cello - it doesn't get more pure.
That's very true - you can lose yourself in them. I had the chance to see Rostropovich play some of these as well, but the opportunity arose to go out with the future Mrs TG instead at a very early stage in our relationship so had to stand Slava up. He never forgave me
That's very true - you can lose yourself in them. I had the chance to see Rostropovich play some of these as well, but the opportunity arose to go out with the future Mrs TG instead at a very early stage in our relationship so had to stand Slava up. He never forgave me
Now that's a story that won't make sense to many ... didn't you have a second ticket?
That said, at that stage of my relationship with my better half ... the closest I got to classical music was James Mason reading Henry V on side 3 of Filmharmonic '70.
Oh, and Ron Goodwin's take on Richard Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op.30 - Opening
And talking of Strauss (back on topic ... nearly): another lovely cello piece is his Don Quixote - Fantastic Variations on a Theme of Knightly Character, Op.35
Speaking of the cello repertory, I see that this weekend's special offer from Arkiv is Sony's set of Yo-Yo Ma's recordings covering most of the famous concertos (Dvorak, Elgar, Walton, Saint Saens, Schumann, Lalo, Boccherini) plus much other repertory as well. Eight (!) discs for $14.99. That's less than what we used to spend on a single CD. I mention this not so much as to endorse this fine cellist's performances as to comment on the seeming end of the CD era. They're giving this stuff away!
