Paul Watkins, the cellist on this recording, plays a cello made by Domenico Montagnana and Matteo Goffriller in Venice around 1730.
Composition History
Samuel Barber's Cello Sonata (1932) was, for many years, the only modern work in its genre by a high-profile American composer.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Aaron Copland's ballet music for Billy the Kid (1938) illustrates his desire for a musical style of natural simplicity and popular accessibility.
Compositional Technique
A striking aspect of Elliott Carter's Cello Sonata is the frequent independence of the cello and piano parts, developing material through instrumental character oppositions.
Composition History
Leonard Bernstein's Three Meditations are arrangements of movements from his large-scale music-theatre piece Mass (1971), which provoked controversy for its ironic dramatization of Catholic ritual.
Historical Context
The music on this album spans about four decades, showcasing varied contributions to chamber music for strings by leading US composers.
Compositional Technique
Elliott Carter's Cello Sonata (1948) features 'temporal modulation' (or 'metric modulation'), a process where pulse lengths in successive sections are proportionally related.
