Cello Symphony, Op. 68
- Instrumentation
- Cello, Orchestra
- Composed
- 1963
- Duration
- 34'
- Publisher
- Boosey & Hawkes
Purchase or download
About this piece
Britten's biggest concert work of his later years and his return to symphonic writing after a decade of opera. The title is deliberate: Boosey's note explains that the music shares its material democratically between cello and orchestra rather than setting soloist against orchestra as a concerto does. Four movements in symphonic layout (Allegro maestoso, Presto inquieto, Adagio, Passacaglia), with the slow movement's cadenza leading straight into the passacaglia finale. Dedicated to Rostropovich; Boosey sells the piano reduction and solo part and the HPS 759 study score, with orchestral material on hire.
Technical overview
Full-scale concertante writing against a large orchestra, including an ad lib solo cadenza linking the third and fourth movements.