For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been dreaming up a solo cello program for the Philadelphia Virtual Music Phestival. With so many things weighing on my mind, it has been both a welcome distraction and a fun exploration, to think of not only what some of my favourite pieces for solo cello are, but also what might go well together programmatically – and most importantly, what might be of particular interest, comfort, or excitement to others at this moment in time.
I envision as a sort of through-program – in it’s entirety, it should feel like one “piece” (that goes through many permutations…). At a moment in time when we are all house-bound, unable to travel, and relying on art – literature, cinema, music, etc – to take us other places, I knew I wanted to include a variety of styles and backgrounds. Tonight, we’re going to travel together – around America, to Spain, Germany, China, England, Georgia (and an American in South America), and we’ll explore some of the culture of each of these places – some dances (from the Sarabande to the Tango), and traditional folk songs (from Northern China, Georgia—the country, and Spain), and even some hints of Bluegrass from the American Appalachians… hopefully we’ll all escape the anxieties we’re feeling nowadays for the next hour or so, together.
Below is the program for this evening (Saturday April 11 2020 @ 7pm EDT, streamed live from my parents’ home in Canada via Facebook Live). I have used symbols to pair a few of the pieces with their sort of “partner-pieces” on the program, but mostly, I’ll be curious to know what *you* hear, and how you find different pieces speaking to one another. Like any fine wine (which hopefully some of you may be enjoying right now), music takes on different dimensions depending upon what it’s paired with.
*Julie-O (1988) Mark Summer
~Suite for Violoncello (1926) Gaspar Cassado
I. Preludio-Fantasia
Suite II, BWV 1008 (~1717-23) J.S. Bach
I. Prelude
IV. Sarabande
VI. Gigue
*Five Pieces on Folk Themes (1950) Sulkhan Tsintsadze
II. Tchonguri
7 Tunes Heard in China (1995) Bright Sheng
I. Seasons
Suite for Cello, Op 72 (1964) Benjamin Britten
Fuga
^Lamento
*Serenata
@Marcia
Moto Perpetuo e Canto Quarto
Nineteen Movements for Unaccompanied Cello (2018) Scott Ordway
^9. Largo cantabile e sostenuto, molto flessibile
*5. Andante semplice
6. Andante con moto
@ 7. Quick & light
~Tango Para Ilaria (1997) Carter Brey
The way each piece ends gives a nod in some way to the next piece – be it the key, character, sound-inspiration, or even simply the note – there are a few pieces on this program that begin in the echoing reverberations of the last note of the previous piece.
Most of the works you will hear this evening are fragments of larger works, but in the interest of time and flow I opted to choose little tasters from each. Below are a few brief program notes – and personal thoughts:
Mark Summer (b 1958) is a classically-trained American cellist and composer who has had a diverse and versatile career in a lot of crossover and “alternative music” performance. His piece, Julie-O, has become a mainstay of the solo cello repertoire since it’s inception in 1989, and I personally love it because I find it exudes joy and dazzles with excitement. It is a lot of fun to play!
Gaspar Cassado (1897-1966) was a Catalan composer, and cellist (I’m sensing a theme here…!). He composed his Suite for Solo Cello in the mid-1920s, and his student, Marçal Cervera, says that its three movements represent three important cultural regions of Spain: Castilla-La Mancha, Catalonia and Andalusia. This movement, Preludio-Fantasia, is a “Zarabanda” – a Spanish Sarabande, which is related to the German baroque Sarabande you will hear later from Bach. Both are in triple meter and often have emphases on the 2nd beats – though obviously stylistically they sound different! Fun facts: Cervera suggests that the two presentations of the opening theme, one forte, the other piano, represent in turn Don Quixote and his beloved, Dulcinea. But other associations run through the movement, as well, including quotations from Ravel’s Daphnis & Chloe (the famous opening flute solo) and from Zoltan Kodaly’s Sonata for Solo Cello. I personally love this piece for it’s bold flare and dramatic, curious adventurousness… this short movement is a whole trip all on it’s own!
The Bach Solo Cello Suites are perhaps the most famous works we have for the cello. J.S. Bach (1685-1750) probably needs no introduction – but he was a German composer and musician who lived during the Baroque period. I find this Suite, his 2nd for solo cello, to be the most melancholy and sorrowful of the 6 suites. Only this and Suite 5 are composed in minor keys, and this one feels a little heavier and mourning than 5 to me personally.
One of Georgia’s foremost composers, Sulkhan Tsintsadze (1925-1991) was also a cellist (apparently, if you are not Bach and wanted to compose for solo cello, you needed to have a vested interest in the instrument??). Tchonguri is a delightfully charming and noble ditty from Tsintsadze’s Five Pieces on Folk Themes. The Choghur (aka Chonguri) is a plucked musical instrument popular in Georgia and Azerbaijan that has 3 pairs of strings and 22 frets (frets, like a guitar).
Bright Sheng (b 1955)’s Seasons from Seven Tunes Heard in China may remind you of the sound of a Chinese Erhu. Bright Sheng is not a cellist (how did he make it onto this program??) but he did write this piece for world-renowned cellist (and one of my personal idols) Yo-Yo Ma. Each of the seven tunes is based on a traditional folk song originating in a different region of China – this one is from the Qinghai province in Northwestern China. The words to the song are as follows:
”Spring is coming,
Narcissi are blooming,
The maiden is out from her boudoir seeking,
My love boy, lend me a hand, please.”
Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) was also not a cellist (unacceptable! ;-)), but he was a formidable British composer, and he also wrote this piece, Suite Op 72, for a cellist you may have heard of – Msitslav Rostropovich, more affectionately known as “Slava”. OK, so you either have to be a cellist or know a really good one to write for the instrument. Noted.
Britten was deeply inspired by Bach’s cello suites and used them as a compositional model for his Suite. While this Suite is composed in six basic movements, unlike Bach, these are more in the manner of character pieces than pure dances. For more detailed program notes, I’d suggest visiting here. One fun thing to listen out for: like Summer, Tsintsadze, and Sheng, Britten makes references to and emulates other instruments throughout this suite – such as the fife, guitar, and percussion. I love the versatility of the cello!
Scott Ordway (b 1984), a Philadelphia-based composer (yay, Philly Virtual Music Phest!), wrote this magnificent Suite for me 2 years ago. We worked on it together for some time and then gave the premiere in Philadelphia, at the Chestnut Hill Skyspace. (We also recently recorded it at Rutgers University and will be releasing the album soon!) He wrote this Suite “as a proclamation of his love for the cello” (hey, he plays cello, too…), and a sort of homage to both Bach and Britten (in particular Bach’s 3rd Suite and Britten’s 1st, the latter of which you just heard parts of). Scott and I share a deep love and reverence for nature, and I think you can hear it throughout this piece — from the glow of the early morning summer sun, to the peaceful waves of the ocean, to the bristling leaves of a tree in the wind… these are things, I think , that permeate both of our creativity whether we’re conscious of it or not.
Carter Brey (b 1954) is the Principal Cellist of the NY Philharmonic, and wrote this piece after a tour with the Phil in the summer of 1997. Inspired by the culture of Buenos Aires, and the soloist they were touring with (Steven Isserlis), he composed this rhapsodic and fiery tango. I am really grateful that he invited me to prepare it for my graduation recital in 2015, as it has quickly become one of my “go-to” pieces to connect with audiences of all types – classical music lovers or not – and is always pure delight to revisit.
This program has really been a delight for me to work on for the past 2 weeks — as a performing musician, my colleagues and I are all in the same predicament of having all of our work cancelled for the forseeable future, and while all of my upcoming performances were collaborative, it’s been a fun, challenging, and interesting change of pace to return to solo cello repertoire for the first time in a while to rediscover and explore the incredible range and voice of this instrument. I’ll admit that it’s a little scary to perform works that I haven’t been preparing or performing for a long time, but they’re each so beautiful, colourful, and life-affirming in their own ways that I couldn’t resist, and I’m grateful for the comfort they’ve each lent me in learning them these past couple of weeks in this difficult time.
Before I sign off, I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you profusely for joining me this evening. One thing that makes this performance so obviously different from any other performance I’ve ever given is that all of you, my audience, are at home; hopefully cozy and comfortable in your own living room, perhaps snuggled up with people or pets you love. I love this intimacy – of bringing live music directly into your home. Thank you for welcoming me! I invite you to sing, dance, clap, play, cry, scream, and laugh along – experience this music however you see fit and make it your own. This is for you!