Concertino for Cello and Orchestra, op. 132

Sadly, Prokofieff's Concertino for Cello and Orchestra, op. 132, was left unfinished at the time of the composer's death, although the majority of it was completed, albeit only in short score. It appears that only the slow movement was composed from beginning to end; the first movement reached the point where the recapitulation would commence, and of the third movement only a torso amounting to the opening third was written. From the extant material a performing version was prepared by Mstislav Rostropovich, for whom Prokofieff had composed the aforementioned Sinfonia Concertante for Cello and Orchestra, op. 125, and Rostropovich performed his completion with piano accompaniment at the Moscow Conservatoire in 1956. At Rostropovich's instigation Dmitri Kabalevsky scored the completed Concertino for full orchestra, and this was premiered by Rostropovich in 1960 at the Moscow Conservatoire. In 1996 a new completion of the Concertino was made by Vladimir Blok, scored for the chamber orchestra forces he found more in proportion to the compact scale of the piece, as implied by the diminutive form of the work's title, and in keeping with Prokofieff's article as quoted above. The premiere of Blok's completion was given on 11 April 1997 at St. David's Hall, Cardiff, with Steven Isserlis (cello) and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Mark Wigglesworth. At the premier Steven Isserlis peformed a cadenza in the first movement provided by the pianist and composer Olli Mustonen (b. Helsinki, 1967). Boosey & Hawkes gratefully acknowledges Mr. Mustonen for allowing the inclusion of his cadenza in the present edition. - Publisher's note.