Natalie Clein - cello

Bach: Suite for solo cello Nr 1 in G major
Thomas Larcher: Sonata for Natalie Clein
Ligeti: Solo Sonata
Bach: Suite for solo cello Nr 2 in D minor

Programme Notes

Suite for solo cello no 1 in G, BWV 1007        Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
1. Prélude; 2. Allemande; 3. Courante; 4. Sarabande; 5. Menuett 1 and 2; 6. Gigue.

When Bach arrived in Cöthen (about 30 miles north-west of Leipzig) in December 1717 to take up the post of Kapellmeister to Prince Leopold, he entered a rather different musical environment from the one he had left in Weimar. There his energies were focused mainly on large-scale organ music and church cantatas. The chapel at Cöthen, by contrast, followed a strict Calvinist tradition which left little scope for church music. Secular music, on the other hand, flourished at Leopold’s court. He himself was an accomplished musician who sang, and played the violin, viola da gamba and harpsichord.

The six suites for solo cello probably date from Bach’s Cöthen years, although some may originate from his time in Weimar. But that is virtually all we know about their origins. There is no hard evidence to show why, or for whom, they were written. One suggestion is that they were composed for Christian Ferdinand Abel, cellist at Cöthen, whose son, Carl Friedrich, would later go into partnership with Bach’s youngest son, Johann Christian, in promoting a prestigious series of concerts in London between 1765 and 1781.

Although the suites were never completely neglected after Bach’s death, it was only when the Spanish cellist Pablo Casals encountered them in the 1890s and began playing them in public (after a long period spent studying them away from the limelight), that they started to acquire the level of appreciation they enjoy today. They are now acknowledged as one of the foundations of the cello repertoire.

The instrumental suite of Bach’s day (for whatever medium) took the basic form of four contrasting dance movements: allemande, courante, sarabande and gigue. A prelude was often added and, occasionally, extra dances between the sarabande and gigue. This is the outline of Bach’s instrumental suites, although he followed it more consistently in the suites for cello than in those for orchestra and for keyboard, and the partitas for solo violin.

The allemande, a basically slow dance with a florid melodic line, was considered serious, even solemn: the courante, in a moderate triple time, was regarded as grand and majestic. The sarabande probably originated in Spain, then moved to Italy where it made a colourful, exotic effect, often played with castanets and guitars. Louis XIV’s dancing masters transformed it into a more dignified, expressive dance in slow triple time; by Bach’s time it had acquired a profoundly introspective character. The gigue is lively and spirited.

The extra movement in the first cello suite consists of a pair of minuets, representing the last word in up-to-date French elegance.

Sonata for Natalie Clein                                             Thomas Larcher (b.1963)(commissioned by the Sweet Briar College of Music, London)

I do not compose my pieces for a certain voice range or orchestration, but for musicians, for people. It is almost impossible for me to produce a piece without having a particular person in mind or to hear him/her inwardly.

No matter how standardized the interpretation of classical music is, and no matter how many co-ordinates have been fixed and defined, I do not want to have them seen (and therewith the notation) as determining and limiting signs, but rather as guideposts towards the creation of vital, organic music. In differentiated music, two participants are necessary in order for a piece to evolve-- the composer and the musician.

Just as there is no one way for a composer to express himself or to notate music, etc., neither is there one way for a musician to read the notation, to interpret, or to live. We find ourselves, for this reason, in a network of meanings, gestures, and signs which have to be fathomed and expanded together.

The tone, the breath, the gestures, the dedication, and the potentialities of a musician were also ultimately decisive for the form of this piece. It is music which pushes the expressive and technical possibilities of the instrument to its very limits. It is music in which the musician has to transport the contexts and expression over and above the notation.

It was not necessary for me to find a new form for this piece; it is a work which can and should be performed in a ‘normal’ concert situation. I deliberately wanted to integrate the perhaps new and unusual content into a familiar form (thus the title ‘Sonata’) and I also wanted to embed the aforementioned extreme situations (in which the technical extremes are synonyms for tension, isolation, loss or tenderness) in an organic process in order for the listener to be able to empathize with and comprehend what is expressed in the piece.

I would like to thank Natalie Clein, to whom the Sonata is dedicated, for inspiring this piece and for the path that led to the realization of the music.

Thomas Larcher

Sonata for solo cello                                                  György Ligeti (1923-2006)
1. Dialogo; 2. Capriccio.

The Sonata for solo cello is one of Ligeti’s earliest surviving works. As the writer Paul Griffiths points out, Ligeti had learned to play the cello during his time as a student, and so found it easier to write for than other string instruments. The first movement was composed in 1948 as an offering to a young cellist he was attracted to. She thanked him, but never played it, not knowing the part she had played in its genesis. The second movement, prompted, as the title suggests, by Ligeti’s interest in Paganini was added five years later, in response to a request for a piece from another cellist.

In spite of its relatively conservative (even for the time) language the Sonata ran into trouble with the Hungarian authorities. It failed to be approved by the Composers’ Union for publication or performance, and though a recording for radio was allowed this was never broadcast. The Sonata was not publicly performed until 1983.

The first movement is marked by its fluid phrase structure, laid out to suggest a conversation. The second, marked ‘Presto, con slancio’ (fast, impetuous), offers a contrast, with its regular triple-time metre. There is a short reference back to the first movement about half-way through.

Suite for solo cello no 2 in D minor, BWV 1008 Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
1. Prélude; 2. Allemande; 3. Courante; 4. Sarabande; 5. Menuet 1 and 2; 6. Gigue.

Suite no 2 follows the same pattern as No 1 with, again, a pair of minuets as the additional movement.

© Mike Wheeler, 2010