David Geringas recital (cello)

Having won fame as “the poet of the piano”, Frédéric Chopin wrote almost all of his music for that instrument. He made an exception for just one other instrument – for the cello. Chopin loved the cello for its deep timbre and he often wrote themes in his pieces for piano that imitated its sound.
Chopin wrote three works for cello solo with the direct participation of his close friend, the Paris Conservatoire professor and renowned performer and composer Auguste Franchomme, who was considered to be the finest cellist of his age.

The Introduction and Polonaise Brillante for Cello and Piano is one of Chopin’s earliest works, written when he was still in Poland before he left for France. It was composed in happy times when the young composer was at the estate of his friend and patron, Prince Radziwiłł. Prince Radziwiłł was a great connoisseur of music and was an able cellist in addition to composing operas in his spare time. The Prince passed on his passion for music to his two daughters, who were first-class pianists. It was for the Prince and Wanda, the most talented of his daughters, that Chopin wrote this sumptuous and virtuoso polonaise, which offers both of the soloists brilliant opportunities to demonstrate their skill. Later, Chopin modestly named this elegant and festive piece a “glittering trifle for the ladies”. But the fact that he included it in his 1830 tour programme and published it three years after that leads one to assume that the composer’s own opinion of this work was a high one.

The genre of piano transcription – virtuoso fantaisie arrangements of music from famous songs, symphonies and operas – became tremendously popular in the 19^th century. Those who wrote a successful transcription instantly won acclaim as a composer as well as demonstrating their talent as a performer. This was exactly what Chopin, a little-known Polish émigré, needed when he arrived in Paris in the autumn of 1831. In 1831 another foreigner reigned supreme in the French capital – the German composer Giacomo Meyerbeer, who had just presented the premiere of his opera Robert le Diable, after which he came to be known as the number one figure in French musical theatre. And so Chopin, together with his friend Franchomme, whose name was well-known, wrote the Gran duo Concertante on Themes from the opera “Robert le Diable”, the melody of which the people were whistling throughout Paris.

The Cello Sonata was to be Chopin’s last major work. He worked on the sonata for two years, from 1845 to 1846. In a letter to his sister the composer complained that, writing the sonata, he “wrote little and crossed out much”, thanks to which one may draw conclusions about the extremely painstaking selection of material. Throughout the work, Chopin manages to retain an ideal balance between the soloists, who emerge as equal partners and attentive interlocutors. Chopin dedicated the sonata to Auguste Franchomme, together with whom he performed it for the first time. The premiere in Paris proved a tremendous success and was to be the final appearance in Chopin’s career as a performer. It was to be a unique “summing up” of his collaboration with the French cellist: it was with Franchomme that Chopin took his first steps on the way to glory in France, and together with him, now as an acclaimed maestro, he completed this journey.

1849 was one of the most productive years in Robert Schumann’s career – not just in terms of the number of works but also in terms of the variety of genres. At the time, the composer was very attracted by the idea of creating “salon music” rather than composing complex transcendental pieces that few could perform. Schumann wrote a series of works that were not initially intended for professionals; they were aimed rather at amateur musicians. At the same time, he strove to create works with serious content, and not easy and entertaining pieces. One such piece of music was his Adagio and Allegro, presented in three versions at the same time – for French horn, violin or cello with piano accompaniment. Interestingly, the work demands significant skill from the performer, which bears witness to the supreme levels of amateur musicianship in Schumann’s time.

Nadezhda Kulygina