242. The Lyrical Cello

The Concert - Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Works for cello and piano by Schumann, Debussy, and Peter John performed by Cicely Parnas, cello and Noreen Cassidy-Polera, piano on April 5, 2015.

• Schumann: Fantasiestucke, Op. 73
• Debussy: Sonata for Cello and Piano
• John, Peter: From the Zodiac (2014)

Today, we’ll celebrate the beauty of the solo cello, with three works played by the fantastic young artist Cicely Parnas, joined on piano by Noreen Cassidy-Polera. Her performance at the Gardner began with Schumann’s Fantasiestucke, opus 73, a set of three brief works. Lyrical and romantic, the set concludes with a sudden blaze of energy—the final movement marked “rapidly and with fire.” Originally intended for clarinet, the composer indicated that the pieces would also be suitable for cello or violin—and indeed they are.

Then comes Debussy’s luxurious and subtly jazzy Sonata for Cello and Piano. English musicologist Ernest Newman penned the perfect description of this chamber music classic: “a fog opening now and then, and giving us a momentary glimpse of ravishingly beautiful countryside.”

We close with a new piece, American composer Peter John’s solo cello work From the Zodiac, in three movements. John writes electronic music as well as acoustic works, and that influence seems to peek through in his writing for the cello, which includes a few passages with otherworldly harmonics.