Programme Notes for the DipABRSM Exam (22nd Dec.

2009 in Glasgow)
Instrument: Violoncello

Charles Camile Saint-Sans ----- The first and second movements from Cello Concerto
No.1, A minor, Op.33 (1872)
Saint-Sans wrote this piece for a Belgian cellist, August Tolbeque, who was a
Professor at the Conservatoire de Paris and first performed this in 1873. The concert was
an unusual agreement to Saint-Sans and this concerto because the orchestra of the
conservatoire at that time stuck to an old convention that they should not play
contemporary music. Saint-Sans lived in a transitional period from Romantic music to
Impressionism, but he basically stuck to the romantic style in all his life, so was often
criticised by younger French composers such as Claude Debussy and Darius Milhaud
about his rather old-fashioned style in his later years. However, he was not a mere
reactionary, but was trying to proceed to a new era in his own way. His music has
recently been re-evaluated as a good example of such a transitional period.
One characteristic feature of this piece is that the three movements are meant to be
continuously played without intervals. Indeed, those three movements are tightly
interrelated in the cyclic form. (The cyclic form was explored by his contemporary
Romantic composers such as Schumann, Liszt and Brahms. Schumanns cello concerto is
a good example of this style.) Hence, the whole music is maybe best regarded as one long
movement.
The first movement (if this designation is appropriate) starts with a sudden short chord
played by the orchestra and then the first motif by the soloist immediately follows. This
theme is then developed by both the orchestra and soloist one after another. After the
rather fast and dynamic first movement, the second movement follows in a light, elegant
and sweet minuet style. There arguably is something very French with the characteristic
atmosphere of this movement. This author personally associates the tune with ballet
music. The cello plays a short virtuoso passage in the second movement, perhaps
intended as a substitute for a cadenza. (11 min.)

Ludwig van Beethoven ----- The first movement from Sonata for Cello and Piano No.3,
A Major, Op.69 (1808)
Among five sonatas Beethoven wrote for the cello and piano, this piece is arguably the
most popular and oft-performed one. Indeed, this sonata dates from Beethoven's most
prolific Middle Period (he wrote the 5th and 6th Symphonies in the same year) and there
can be seen a lot of maturity and established compositional techniques of his music in
this piece; the cello is given much more freedom than preceding cello sonatas and both
the higher register on the A string and the lower register on the C string are deliberately
used in a highly effective manner; the piano is given an independent role rather than a
leading or accompanying part and plays dynamic tunes as well as contrapuntal melodies
against the cello. Note that the cello was not often given an independent role in earlier
cello sonatas than this. Examples include Beethovens own two Op.5 cello sonatas, in

which the right hand of the piano part is often leading the music. In this sense, this sonata
can be thought to be an important cornerstone in the history of cello sonatas.
The first movement opens with the grandiose, but somewhat introspective and pensive
subject in A major by the cello alone and then the piano takes it over. This opening is
truly a nice dialogue between the two instruments. The contrapuntal second subject starts
in E major but is then modulated and developed by both the cello and piano.
Beethoven effectively compresses subjects in the coda, as he showed the same
technique in Klavier Sonata No.32, Op.111, and both the cello and piano play the first
subject in a brilliant and strong manner to conclude this movement.
It is maybe worth noting that today this author uses Brenreiters New Edition released
in 2004, in which some corrections are made after scholastic revisit of manuscripts. One
example is found in bar 36, where the cello plays c natural in most of popular editions but
it is c sharp in this edition, resulting in a more interesting conversation between the cello
and piano.
(13 min.)

Robert A. Schumann ----- Adagio and Allegro, A flat major, Op.70 (1849)
This piece was originally written for the French horn and then the composer himself
transcribed it for the violin and the cello. Nowadays this piece became an important
concert repertoire of the clarinet, saxophone, viola and many other instruments. The
valve system was first invented around the beginning of the 19th century and thus the
horn became able to fully play chromatic scales by this year. Schumann was interested in
the potential of the instrument with the new mechanical system and wrote this highly
soloistic piece, which was soon transpired to be too difficult for most of his contemporary
horn players, though now it is regularly played.
As the title tells, this piece starts with a slow adagio part and then a fast and brilliant
allegro part follows, though the motif of adagio comes back in the middle of the allegro
again. The slow and gentle motif of adagio is given a mystic and fantastical colour by the
impressive chromatic chord progression, forming a good contrast against the allegro
motif which is rather vivid and triumphant, by which the audience can easily be reminded
of sharp tonguing of the brass instrument.
The accompanying piano is crucially important in the harmonic progression as well as
its melodic role in conversation with the cello.
Schumann energetically wrote a wide range of music in 1830s and 1840s, including
piano music, symphonies, chamber music, solo instrumental music, opera, choral works
and lieder. He developed his own characteristic sound, which is considered to be one of
the most expressive, romantic and poetic one of all composers, through challenging many
different types of music, studying great composers including Bach and Beethoven and
being influenced by his contemporaries such as Brahms, Mendelssohn and his wife Clara
Schumann. Also here in this short piece, we can find much evidence of the maturity of
his style and something extremely poetic. (9 min.)
(1016 words except the title)