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Concerto for Cello
Conductor's score and parts on hire
978-0-19-366586-6
06 September 1990
Price: Available on request
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In this three-movement work the outer movements use low wind instruments to provide a dark and enriched sonority; the middle movement, in contrast, employs piccolo, a second alto, Eb clarinet, in a brighter, higher-pitched wind octet. And the piano has a special role in the piece, together with the principal cello. Forces or CategorySolo cello & full orchestraDuration24 minutesDifficultyModerately difficult to
DifficultOrchestrationvc solo, fl, afl (+picc), 2 ob (2nd+ca), cl, bcl (+Ebcl), bn, cbn, 2 hn, tpt, tbn, timp, 2 perc (vib, SD, 3 tom-tom (high, med, low), tam (med), siz cym, mar, crotales, bongos, congas, BD), pn, mandolin, strProgramme Notes. Molto Moderato
II. Allegro molto, leggiero ma energico
III. Adagio
This work forms the central panel of a planned triptych of concertos, begun in 1989 with a Horn Concerto. In a sense, it is the slow movement; the relationship between soloist and orchestra is here less confrontational, more intimate and reflective. The Cello Concerto
is also scored for a smaller orchestra with extra percussion, mandolin and piano. The outer movements use low wind instruments (alto flute, cor anglais, bass clarinet, contra bassoon) to provide a dark and enriched sonority; the middle movement, in contrast, employs piccolo, a second alto flute, and Eb clarinet, in a brighter, higher-pitched wind octet. And the piano has a special role in the piece, together with the principal cello.
The first movement begins with neither orchestra nor soloist, but with this duo, as if a cello sonata were envisaged! Though the music is placid and simple, it appears disturbing, at least to the soloist who, joined at once by the orchestra, manages to suppress it before embarking on the movement proper. The cello/piano duo is not heard again till
near the end of the movement where an uneasy, and clearly temporary, rapport is achieved. Meanwhile the soloist has spun a more or less continuous line, volatile and elusive, moving through a number of instrumental ensembles, from small groups to the full tutti, varying and developing the material heard at the outset.
The second movement is a scherzo ranging through extremes of delicacy and violence and including a short cadenza. The trio sees the re-emergence of the cello/piano duo, here at odds with the soloist and the percussion section. In the abridged reprise of the scherzo which follows the cadenza, the soloist is gradually snuffed out by volleys of furious drumming, a sound heard from afar at the start of the movement and several times threatening to erupt in the
meantime.
The final Adagio follows at once, with the soloist clearing the air in a series of introductory gestures which reach for the ecstatic heights so nearly sustained at the end of the first movement. There is a sequence of rather sarabande-like orchestral episodes alternating with songs for soloist and wind instruments the last of which finally allows a rapprochement between the soloist and the piano. Leading to a calm and spacious coda. The cellos re-iterated E from the end of the first movement then in conflict with a tug towards Eb in the orchestra, now floats serenely in C major harmony, and has the last word.
The Cello Concerto was commissioned and funded by the Kings Lynn Festival and written for Steven Isserlis with his special talents very much in mind. It
was composed February-April 1990 and is dedicated to the Festival Artistic Adviser, Meirion Bowen.
Copyright Anthony Powers, 1990
Reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press
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Anthony Powers (b.1953) Born in London in 1953, Anthony Powers studied at Oxford, in Paris with Nadia Boulanger, and at York with David Blake and Bernard Rands. He taught for two years at Dartington College of Arts before being appointed Composer-in-Residence to Southern Arts. Since then he has moved to Herefordshire where he continues to divide his time between composing and teaching, currently at Cardiff University, where he has been Professor of composition since 2004.
Powers's music is characterized by strong architectonic frameworks that support a language of poetic intensity and magical sonorities. His music often takes its inspiration from the tension between different states, be they physical properties, landscapes, seasons or emotions.
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The specification in this catalogue, including without limitation price, format, extent, number of illustrations, and month of publication, was as accurate as possible at the time the catalogue was compiled. Occasionally, due to the nature of some contractual restrictions, we are unable to ship a specific product to a particular territory. Jacket images are provisional and liable to change before publication.
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