SonatainEMinor,Op.14,No.5by Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Antonio Vivaldi, a composer and violinist of the baroque era, wrote 10 cello sonatas dated between 1720-1730. While 9 of his cello sonatas are known, one has been permanently lost All of Vivaldi’s cello sonatas are sonata de camera, translating to chamber sonatas, meaning that they are meant for dance The movements are not marked with dance titles, but they can be reasonably associated with typical baroque dance styles Vivaldi spent most of his adult life working as the music director at an all-girls orphanage in Venice, with many of his compositions written with specific children in mind. However, it is unknown if the cello sonatas were written for the girls at the orphanage or if they were commissioned by amateur or professional cellist. While his sonatas may have been written originally for private use, his cello sonatas now remain a staple in cello repertoire.
Truckin’ThroughtheSouthby Aaron Minsky
Aaron Minsky, originally a rock guitarist, picked up the cello after looking for a new instrument to learn. His cello proficiency grew, leading to him taking courses with a Julliard professor, graduating from Manhattan School of Music, and playing in multiple orchestras. His goal after gaining classical cello experience was to change the way cello is played in the modern world. His guitar background informed his compositions, leading to him composing cello pieces that blend classic and contemporary styles, as well as changing cello techniques, such as playing the cello like a guitar, playing chords, and even using a guitar pick. His piece “Truckin’ Through the South”, published in his first book “Ten American Cello Etudes”, combines a southern blues feeling with baroque style suspensions, as well as unusual bowings similar to techniques implemented on classical guitar.
SongoftheBirds,Trad/Arr. Sally Beamish (b.1956)
Song of the Birds, or “El cant dels ocells”, is a traditional Catalan Christmas carol Pau Casals, a Catalan and Puerto Rican cellist, popularized the song for cello after debuting the arrangement at a state dinner for Puerto Rico’s governor at the White House in 1961. Casals performed this piece to signify his opposition to the dictatorship in Spain, with him noting 10 years later when being offered the United Nations Peace Medal, that “Birds sing when they are in the sky, they sing: ‘Peace, Peace, Peace,’ and it is a melody that Bach, Beethoven, and all the greats would have admired and loved”. Sally Beamish, a British composer and violinist, was commissioned by Steven Isserlis to arrange the song for solo cello in 1998.
PianoTrioNo.1inDMinor,Op.49by Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Felix Mendelssohn, a romantic era composer, wrote Piano Trio No. 1 in D Minor in 1839. In 1932, before setting out to write the piano trio, he wrote to his sister, Fanny Mendelssohn, expressing that he wanted to write an active piano line when he next writes a trio. This didn’t come to fruition, however, until in 1939 he had his friend and fellow composer Ferdinand Hiller listen to the piano trio, and Hiller remarked that the piano part should be more virtuosic and complex This led to Mendelssohn rewriting the entire piano part, leading to its virtuosic and technical prominence we know today. The first movement of the piece is in sonata form with no introduction. Throughout the movement, there is great thematic development, with the theme altered and distorted multiple times and played in many keys. When Robert Schumann reviewed the piece, he stated that it is “the master trio of the age”.