"I really get into the depth of the instrument’s soul and try to ... find ways of making new music and the instrument come together in a manner that is meaningful and beautiful." Shulamit Ran
New York, New York (PRWEB) January 19, 2015
Great composers are remembered forever, but the names, stories and achievements of great performers are often forgotten. Nevertheless, music's very existence depends upon them. More than mere mouthpieces, they are close collaborators, instigators, and creators in their own right. Carrying on this tradition, IIMF presents a program of music commissioned, arranged and composed by some of the greatest cello virtuosi of the last 200 years, in which they combine technical prowess with a deep and intimate knowledge of the essence of their instrument. Join us February 6th at Weill Recital Hall for an evening of cello music 'at the point': the apex of cello-playing from the hands of one of today's consummate masters. For tickets call CarnegieCharge at 212.247.7800, on http://www.carnegiehall.org and more info on http://www.interharmony.com
Pulitzer Prize-winning Israeli-American composer Shulamit Ran's Fanstasy Variations for Cello are dedicated to the Julliard cellist André Emelianoff, an active supporter and commissioner of new music for the last several decades. A child prodigy, Ran began composing at the age of 7. Her compositional style finds emotional intensity by probing the limits of the instrument's potential: "I really get into the depth of the instrument’s soul and try to ... find ways of making new music and the instrument come together in a manner that is meaningful and beautiful." In these unrestrained, almost improvisational variations, the cello takes on distinct personalities which converse in a kind of stream of consciousness. By experimenting with bravura techniques, Ran produces a wide range of timbres, her abstractions coming in and out of focus, condensing into baroque dances only to dissolve again into formless beauty.
Julius Klengel, though less well-known to the listening public, is a legend among cellists. Born into a musical family in Leipzig, he was quickly recognized as a wunderkind. A gifted teacher, he wrote hundreds of technically demanding pieces to challenge his students. No dry study, his Opus 6 is a Scherzo: a 'joke.' Despite its nightmarish difficulty, it must be delivered with the playful timing of a punchline to come off. Its mischievous harmonic runs are as likely to coax a smile from the audience as they are to reduce the performer to tears.
Brahm's Cello Sonata Nr. 2 in F major belongs to his great late Classicism. He wrote it for a close friend, cellist Robert Hausmann, to whom it is dedicated and by whom it was first performed. Hausmann was a member of the Joachim Quartet, the most prestigious chamber group of its day, whose members, were Brahms' closest collaborators. In the opening theme, the cello in broken, yearning melodic fragments, seems to struggle against implacable opposition to reach into its highest registers.
Gregor Piatigorsky, Klengel's greatest student, is a legendary figure among cellists. Once described as "the greatest string player of all time," he brought the art of the cello to a previously unheard of level, despite living a life at least as dramatic as his music. After run-ins with Soviet authorities, he made a harrowing escape over the Polish border to seek musical freedom abroad. As an active arranger, he expanded his instruments repertoire in unexpected directions. In particular, his arrangement of Haydn's baryton trios, the Divertimento in D major, rescued an overlooked jewel from obscurity. By adapting the baryton part for its closest modern relative, the cello, Piatigorsky created a new piece of great beauty, which preserves the character of Haydn's originals.
Rossini's 'prayer-aria' "Dal tuo stellato soglio," from Mosè in Egitto, was one of the most popular operatic numbers of his day. Moses, accompanied by a chorus of Israelites as they flee Egypt, prays to God to protect them from Pharaoh's approaching army. In the same year he wrote Mosè, Rossini befriended Paganini. Paganini adapted his friend's beloved preghiera to his own needs as a traveling virtuoso. Much of his work as a composer includes firework displays of technical mastery. In 1937, the great performer and arranger Luigi Silva transcribed them for the cello as the Paganini-Silva Variations on a Theme of 'Moses' by Rossini.
Ravel's Vocalise-étude en forme de Habañera exploits the cellos unique proximity to the human voice, as well. of the bass voice, the Vocalise-étude was later transcribed by the composer for cello and piano. Ravel, like Bizet before him, whose famous habañera from Carmen is echoed here, turned to Spain for new melodies and rhythms.
Mstislav Rostropovich was, one of the 20th century's most influential and accomplished cellists. As a student in Moscow, he was thought to be as promising a composer as a cellist. By his own account, he wrote and memorized his Humoresque, Op. 5, in the space of an evening, as a birthday present for his composition teacher the following day. Witty and joyous, stunning yet effervescent, it became one of his favorite encore pieces.