Concerto for Cello and Orchestra

1993. Large oblong folio. Spiral bound. 44 pp. Notated in pencil on 18-stave paper.

A working manuscript with instrumental cues, directions, etc., throughout and with brief sketches to final leaf. Additional annotations in red crayon.

Slightly worn and soiled. Written for Yo-Yo Ma, the work was commissioned and premiered by the San Francisco Symphony in 1994. A recording of the work (Sony Classical, 1996), with Yo-Yo Ma and the Philadelphia Orchestra under conductor David Zinman, won three Grammy awards.

"Danielpour's Cello Concerto shows the composer in his most compelling voice. Danielpour mixes the wails of a Jewish cantor, Messiaen's chirping, metal-hitting-metal percussion effects, and the high-energy swagger of Bernstein's Broadway music... It's a finely crafted work, [with] lovely sonorities, rhythmically catchy and tonally attractive on a moment-by-moment basis. It was exhilarating to hear [Ma], a top soloist, pressed to the limits of his considerable abilities." Pierre Ruhe, Washington Post

"... perhaps not since Aram Khachaturian has such exotically colored music come along. It all comes to a great rackety end, and had the audience on its feet cheering." American Record Guide

"... In four uninterrupted movements... the concerto proposes a journey of the soul." Allan Ulrich, San Francisco Examiner

"Danielpour, long considered this country's best younger composers, has produced the finest new concerto this listener has heard in years." Stephen Wigler, Baltimore Sun

"The Cello Concerto is a welcome jaunt into contemporary, modern muisc. The very prolific and in-demand Danielpour, honored by an exclusive contract with Sony, has produced an operatic concerto." Benjamin Ivry, Music & the Arts

Grammy-Award winning Richard Danielpour "is an outstanding composer for any time, one who knows how to communicate deep, important emotions through simple, direct means that nevertheless do not compromise." (New York Daily News). A distinctive American voice, his music is of large and romantic gestures, brilliantly orchestrated, intensely expressive, and rhythmically vibrant."Phytheas Music website

"Richard Danielpour... has become one of the most sought-after composers of his generation - a composer whose distinctive American voice is part of a rich neo-Romantic heritage with influences from pivotal composers like Britten, Copland, Bernstein, and Barber. His works are solidly rooted in the soil of tradition, yet [sing] with an optimistic voice for today... [They] speak to the heart as well as the mind." Schirmer website

"Like many American composers of his generation, Danielpour has largely divorced himself from serial techniques, which were important to early works such as the First String Quartet (1983). With First Light (1988), he found a new, distinctly American voice. He is best known for his orchestral and chamber music, including vocal works in both genres. Although he is often described as a neo-romantic, his musical language is broadly based and widely varied... In his vocal works, which display pristine idiomatic writing, he has collaborated increasingly with living poets. Many of his instrumental works are given evocative titles that refer to extra-musical sources." Laurie Shulman in Grove Music Online.