This work has always leaves me speechless since I discovered the Wergo LP decades ago. There’s nothing else like this piece in any genre. In retrospect one finds hints in some of Zimmermann’s previous music that this cello concerto was possible. It’s like a sonic fairy tale played out in another dimension: Surreal, sensuous, prismatic, Has jazz ever been used so I expectedly and colorfully? Ditto the twangy zither/harpsichord/mandolin, the throbbing electric guitar, the spicy percussion, piercing trumpets, all supporting the cello protagonist. I travelled to hear the LA Philharmonic perform the long-delayed American premiere a couple of years ago (Malkki conducting) which was fantastic.
The instruments employed in this beautiful work guarantee that it will be very rare that it will ever be performed. That’s a shame that classical music has allowed its sounds to be so corralled in. More variety is needed in order to not make classical music such a merely stale and pompous vice of the monied classes, void of most elasticity. Congratulations go out to the SWF Sinfonie Orchester Baden-Baden for playing this music and choosing to do so in place of playing the usual/ traditional chestnuts all are so familiar with.
