Zoltán Kodály, the composer, taught himself to play the cello after learning violin from his father and piano from his sister.
Compositional Technique
In Kodály's Sonata for Solo Cello, Op. 8, the two lowest strings of the cello are tuned down by a half-step to B and F#, creating a B minor chord with the third string.
Interpretation
Cellist Janós Starker, a Hungarian-American legend, emphasized that in Kodály's music, all beginnings must be consonant and clear, never 'murmuring,' and rhythmic precision is crucial.
Composition History
Kodály conceived the Duo for Cello and Violin, Op. 7, in 1914 while stranded in a village on the Tyrolean border during the outbreak of World War I.
Composer Biography
Kodály and his friend Béla Bartók revolutionized ethnomusicology by collecting around 3,000 folk songs and using them as the basis for their own musical language.
Compositional Technique
Béla Bartók described Kodály's Sonata for Solo Cello, Op. 8, as having an 'entirely new' world of ideas, unlike any other work of its kind.
Instruments
Julian Steckel, the cellist on this recording, plays a cello made by Andrea Guarneri in Cremona in 1685.
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Zoltán Kodály: Sonata for Cello Solo, Cello Sonata, Duo for Violin and Cello
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