Rubinstein, Anton

Rubinstein, Anton – Concerto pour Violoncelle No. 2, op. 96 (Piano reduction & solo)

(28 November [O.S. 16 November] 1829, Vykhvatintsy, Podolia, Russia [now in the Transnistria borderland of Moldavia, near the Ukraine] – 20 November [O.S. 8 November] 1894, Peterhof, Saint Petersburg, Russia)

Concerto pour Violoncelle, No. 2, op. 96

Allegro moderato 10:00, p. 3
Andante 7:00, p. 31
Moderato – Allegro vivace 8:00, p. 43 – p. 76

Composed:
1874, for his Saint Petersburg Conservatory colleague Karl Davydov (Давыдов, 1838-1889)
Dedication:
Carlo Alfredo Piatti (1822-1901), an Italian cellist who was Rubinstein’s friend
Publication:
Leipzig: Bartolf Senff, 1875, plate 2347.
Orchestration:
solo cello, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 B-flat clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns in F, 2 trumpets in D, timpani, strings

Background
Best known as the founder of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, Anton Rubinstein was one of the great nineteenth-century keyboard virtuosos. The summit of his performing career was a series of seven consecutive “Historical Recitals” covering the history of piano music. He presented these throughout Eastern Europe and the United States as a “Steinway artist,” receiving as much as 200 dollars (in gold) per concert, plus all expenses. Each recital could feature as many as eight full piano sonatas, plus encores: they made powerful impressions on fellow pianists from Clara Schumann to the young Sergei Rachmaninoff. The first recital of each series included selections by Byrd, Bull, Couperin, Rameau, Scarlatti, and Bach. In addition to virtuosity and an encyclopedic memory, he was praised for his tone, sensuous style of playing, and stamina: he gave a total of 215 American concerts in 239 days (sometimes as many as three per day), and he invested the proceeds in real estate near Saint Petersburg. …

For more information about the piece read the (German and English) preface of the full score:
> HERE