Cello Concerto (Thomson)

The Cello Concerto has a performance duration of approximately 20 minutes and is cast in three movements:

1. Rider on the Plains
2. Variations on a Southern Hymn
3. Children's Games

The work is scored for cello solo and an orchestra comprising two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three percussionists, harp, celesta, and strings.^[1]

Reviewing the New York City premiere at Carnegie Hall, Olin Downes of The New York Times wrote, "Mr. Thomson writes gaily, tunefully, and in an unpretentious manner. He has taken care to write as idiomatically as possible for the solo instrument. He avoids lengthy developments or over-extensions of his ideas. Sometimes the connective tissue between the main ideas is thin, sometimes the developments sag a trifle. But the evolutionary symphonic style is not here the composer's intention. He is entertaining us."^[2] The concerto is frequently cited by the music critic Tim Page as one of his favorite Thomson works.^[3][4][5]