Widor Cello Concerto & Lalo Cello Concerto

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MusicWeb International | Dominy Clements – November 2024
“The Widor Concerto is quite a discovery.”

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What brings a South African musician to look for lost gems from 19th-century France? For Graham du Plessis, his latest project turned into a personal quest, creating bridges between African culture and French Romanticism. Even for him, it represented a step into the unknown: “Performing the original version of the Cello Concerto by Charles-Marie Widor is entirely unprecedented,” he enthuses.

Then, of course, each day in his life is filled with surprises. At Capetown university, classical music is as alive as hip hop or rock: “National schools are disappearing, and this new generation is really open to just about any style of music,” according to du Plessis, “In our music department, we teach jazz, opera, and ballet. We have people with Afrikaans backgrounds, Asian backgrounds, Kwazulu backgrounds, Zulu backgrounds, mixed race backgrounds. There are Christians, there are Muslims. It’s incredibly diverse.”

This open-door policy made for the perfect point of departure. During his lifetime, Widor was mainly known as an organist and the Cello Concerto was possibly intended as an experiment. Written in 1882, it would remain in the drawer for over a century, until Swedish cellist Torleif Thedéen recorded it for a CD-release. It was well-received but did not leave a lasting impression. Still to this day, as far as we know, it hasn’t been performed in public even once.

It was then that du Plessis made an intriguing discovery. As it turned out, Thedéen had recorded a revised version of the concerto. There was an earlier one, the original – and to his mind, it was superior: “In a few places it is simpler, but in other places, it’s considerably more complex. These contrasts make for a far more varied experience.” As one of the pre-eminent organ virtuosos of his time, Widor arranged the string sections almost like an organ which resulted in a work which is as unusual as it is poetic.

So, after his return to South Africa, will du Plessis continue to look for inspiration in the Romantic period? It doesn’t seem likely. “For me, as a cellist, chamber music is really the dream. The variety of what you get to do as an instrumentalist there is astonishing. I’d also like to promote more cultural collaborations in Capetown. We once played Beethoven with an African musician improvising along to us … It was great!”

That’s the thing with going for the unprecedented – once it’s been done, the search begins anew.