Word: violoncello
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1950-1959
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...opening work was the quaint Duet in D Major by Haydn. There followed the Duo for Violin and Violoncello by the contemporary composer Bohuslav Martinu, a work that is full of technical difficulties and cadenza-like passages for the two instruments. The final work was Ravel's splendid Sonata for Violin and Violoncello, which elicted the most enthusiastic response from the audience...
Mary Fraley Johnson played the Sonata for Violoncello Solo, Opus 25, No. 3, in her usual dramatic and vehement manner. This piece is some-what similar to its predecessor from the same opus, but was not nearly so dissonant. It did, however, accentuate the same tonal richness...
Both Des Todes Tod and its successor on the program, Die Serenaden--a little cantata on Romantic texts for soprano, oboe, viola and violoncello--approached Hindemith's orchestral ideal of thick texture, rich tone and extensive contrapuntal treatment, with each instrument going its separate way. In "Der Wurm am Meer" in the second group of pieces in Die Serenaden, all four elements had different melodies that combined to form a coherent and colorful whole. Such terms might be used to describe the whole program...
...concert given by the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra in Sanders last Friday night was disappointing. The only part of the program that was musically acceptable was Frances Steiner's playing of the Saint-Saens Violoncello Concerto, Opus 55. Her tone was usually warm and clear, and the technically difficult passages were executed with a degree of ease. Unfortunately, soloist and orchestra did not always pay sufficient attention to each other...
Third composition on the program was Peter Mennin's Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra, which made fewer demands on the listener, and showed less originality and toughness. It provided a neoromantic contrast to Sessions, and for long stretches sounded as if it might have been titled "Mr. Brahms Goes to Juilliard." Composer Mennin, who has six performed symphonies to his credit, kept the orchestra mostly under wraps to make his concerto one long melodious song for Leonard Rose's fluent cello...