The cello has always held a special place in classical music.
With its deep, human-like voice, it can sigh, sing, or roar, often carrying an emotional weight that few other instruments can match. No wonder composers across centuries have turned to the cello to express their most profound musical ideas. Yet for all its expressive power, the cello concerto is a relatively rare gem compared to the vast catalogues of violin and piano concertos. That makes each masterpiece in this repertoire all the more treasured.
This list celebrates eleven of the greatest cello concertos ever written, works that stretch from the Romantic era into the twentieth century. They highlight the instrument’s ability to shift between lyricism and drama, intimacy and grandeur. Together, these works form a rich tapestry of styles and voices, showcasing how different composers unlocked the cello’s potential. Whether you’re a seasoned listener or discovering the repertoire anew, these concertos reveal the cello at its most powerful and poetic.
The 11 best cello concertos ever written
11. Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 1 (1959)
Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major, Op. 107 (1959) is one of the greatest 20th-century works for the instrument. Written for Mstislav Rostropovich, it combines biting wit, raw power, and profound emotional depth. The opening Allegretto is sardonic and driven, the slow movement offers haunting lyricism, and the cadenza builds to a frenetic finale. Demanding both technically and emotionally, the concerto reflects Shostakovich’s distinctive voice—ironic, intense, and deeply human—making it a cornerstone of the cello repertoire.
10. Schumann: Cello Concerto (1850)
Completed over just two short weeks, this singular work was premiered in April 1860, four years after Schumann’s death. The concerto is characterised by a lengthy exposition and an intensely lyrical second movement. The whole is held together by recurring thematic material that is developed throughout. Despite this, the work explores a range of moods and charts a complex emotional journey. Despite its inherent difficulty, the concerto avoids showy virtuosic display. As Schumann famously declared, ‘I cannot write a concerto for the virtuosos. I must try for something else.’
9. Lutosławski: Cello Concerto (1970)
The next entry in our list of greatest cello concertos reaches far into the 20th century. Premiered in London in 1970 by Rostropovich, this is one of Lutosławski’s most celebrated works. A continuous four-movement piece, scored for large orchestra, it consists of multiple musical ideas which are combined with impressive economy to form a complex tapestry of sound. Opening, rather unusually, with unaccompanied cello, the orchestra gradually enters the fray by way of trumpets, followed by the brass section and percussion.
8. Bruch: Kol Nidrei (1880)
Next in our list of greatest cello concertos is a piece that is not strictly a cello concerto at all! Nonetheless, this dramatic work for cello and orchestra earns a place in our list due to its ubiquity on concert stages around the world. Max Bruch, who was not Jewish but rather a Protestant, composed a series of variations on two main Jewish folk themes in his 1880 work. ‘Even though I am a Protestant, as an artist I deeply felt the outstanding beauty of these melodies and therefore I gladly spread them through my arrangement,’ he wrote in a letter.
7. Tchaikovsky: Variations on a Rococo Theme (1876-77)
The second non-concerto on our list also earns its place through sheer popularity with both soloists and audiences. That, and because it’s the closest work to a cello concerto that Tchaikovsky composed. The piece is Classical in style and the Rococo theme is actually an original tune in the late Baroque style. The work's first performer was Wilhelm Fitzenhagen, a colleague of Tchaikovsky’s at the Moscow Conservatory, in 1877. Comprising a theme and eight variations, the work features no orchestral interludes, meaning the soloist performs continuously without breaks. Also a challenge is the work’s range – mostly performed at the upper end of the cellist’s register in the difficult thumb position.
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6. Walton: Cello Concerto (1956)
The third of William Walton’s concertos for solo strings (following the 1929 Viola Concerto and 1939 Violin Concerto), his Cello Concerto was considered by some to be old-fashioned for its time, and is certainly warm and tuneful rather than modernist and angular. However, it deviates from the standard Romantic pattern of a fast opening movement followed by a slow middle movement. Instead the opening is more expressive, followed by a brisk central scherzo. The third movement consists of a theme and four related improvisations, followed by a lengthy coda.
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5. Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 2 (1966)
Shostakovich wrote his Second Cello Concertos, like his first, for the great Mstislav Rostropovich. The three-movement work is generally thought to signify the beginning of Shostakovich’s late style. More subdued than the bombastic First Concerto, the dark and dramatic Second defies expectations with a quiet, brooding introduction for the soloist and two large outer movements sandwiching a brief scherzo. Shostakovich wrote of the work that he could also have named it ‘the Fourteenth Symphony with a solo cello part’.
4. Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto No. 1 (1873)
Composed when Saint-Saëns was 37, this work was first performed at the Paris Conservatoire. Rather than the standard three-movement structure, the concerto instead works as a single movement in three sections that share related ideas. The turbulent opening, in which the soloist states the theme rather than following an orchestra introduction, gives way to a muted minuet with cello cadenza before the opening statement reappears followed by several new themes. A highly virtuosic work, in which the soloist is always centre stage, the concerto is a particularly exciting vehicle for leading cellists wanting to showcase their technique and musical range.
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3. Haydn: Cello Concerto No. 1 (1761)
Third in our list of greatest cello concertos is a work that lay unheard for two centuries.
Composed in the early 1760s, Haydn’s First Cello Concerto was lost for two hundred years until its rediscovery in 1961. One of the great Classical cello works, the three-movement concerto actually has its roots in the Baroque concerto form of Bach with its orchestral ritornellos and single-themed movements. However, it pushes this structure to the limits with a seemingly boundless capacity for secondary ideas.
It's full of virtuosity, from playing at the top of the fingerboard, to dashing runs and quick changes of register. And it’s been a a guaranteed crowd pleaser since its rediscovery some 60 years ago.
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2. Dvořák: Cello Concerto (1896)
One of two highly successful works composed by Dvořák during his time in the US (the other being the ‘New World’ Symphony).
A large, tuneful, Romantic work, scored for full symphony orchestra, Dvořák's Cello Concerto is infused with a sense of sadness and loss, not only for Dvořák’s Czech homeland, but also for his sister-in-law Josefina, who was dying at the time of its composition, and to whom Dvořák had proposed before being rejected and turning instead to her sister Anna. Upon hearing the work, Dvořák’s mentor Brahms is reported to have said: ‘If I had known that it was possible to compose such a concerto for the cello, I would have tried it myself!’
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1. Elgar: Cello Concerto (1919)
Perhaps the most famous of all works for the cello, and immortalised in the dramatic, highly charged performances of Jacqueline du Pré, Elgar’s Cello Concerto was composed following the First World War. Contemplative and melancholic, the four-movement work was first recorded by Beatrice Harrison with Elgar himself conducting. However, it was du Pré’s 1965 recording with the London Symphony Orchestra under Sir John Barbirolli that gave the work its popularity.
It has since been recorded and performed in concert by most of the world’s best cellists. That said, Mstislav Rostropovich stopped performing the concerto on hearing Du Pré’s recording. ‘My pupil, Jacqueline du Pré, played it much better than I,’ he noted.
Pics: Getty Images
