Solo Cello Concert

Details

Hugh Mackay full profile / Solo Cello / 1 musician

Full program notes

J.S. Bach - Suite for Solo Cello No. 2
Penderecki - Capriccio per Siegfried Palm
J.S. Bach - Suite for Solo Cello No. 3

This programme highlights the cello’s widest possible range of acoustic properties and delights. J.S. Bach’s Cello Suites are the pinnacle of the solo cello repertoire, comprising six dances movements constructed from rich harmonies and counterpoint, and whose individual keys denote the character of each work. The Second Suite is in the tragic key of D minor and features mournful and frustrated music, while the Third Suite energises audiences with the radiant and exuberant key of C major.

While Bach uses harmony and counterpoint to build his music, carefully balancing tension and resolution to create the drama and architecture of his beloved cello suites, Polish composers Krzysztof Penderecki is much more interested in the industrial sounds of a modernising world and sheer virtuosity in his 1968 avant garde work, ‘Capriccio per Siegfried Palm’. The world features rarely used, vibrant acoustic qualities of the cello, such as bowing the strings in bizarre ways and using the body of the cello as a percussive instrument.

This programme delights audiences and showcases the expressive and acoustic capabilities of the cello.

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