Buried Treasure

Cellist Natalie Clein

on three musical rarities from her record collection

Saint-saëns Cello Concerto No. 2

Lynn Harrell (cello), Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra/riccardo Chailly Decca 414 3872

I’ve never seen this concerto on a programme – probably because it’s so difficult. It’s late Saint-saëns and full of innovative ideas about what’s possible musically, harmonically and cellistically. Saint-saëns was a renaissance man, interested in everything from astronomy to mathematics, and his varied interests seem to come out in the experimental nature of the music. There are some beautiful melodies, too – right at the end of the concerto is a sort of pop song, a harmonic twist you might find in a Beatles song.

Dallapiccola

Ciaccona, Intermezzo e Adagio Natalie Clein (cello)

Hyperion CDA 68155

This piece for solo cello is a work of genius, although hardly anyone has heard of it. Written in 1945, it’s an ode to his lost country: a profound statement against aggression and an expression of frustration at the world around him. It’s haunting, and tonally very interesting – he manages to combine what was interesting about Serialism with a musical language that has a resonance and that speaks to the general listener. It finishes in this unforgettable dying whisper.

Schulhoff

Five Pieces for String Quartet Hagen Quartet DG 469 0662

The music of Czech-jewish composer

Erwin Schulhoff, who died at 48 in a Nazi concentration camp, is a fascinating mix of the cultural cooking pot that was central Europe at the time – you can hear influences from Hungarian and Czech folk through to jazz, Serialism, Mahler, Brahms…

But somehow you can always tell it’s Schulhoff. The Five Pieces for String Quartet show this eclecticism, his ability to turn his hand to these styles, and still be himself. They’re so much fun to play and audiences adore them.

Natalie Clein appears in the BBC Young Musician 40th Anniversary Prom on 15 July