Rachmaninoff, Lutosławski & Webern: Works for Cello & Piano

Featuring

William Conway
Peter Evans
Witold Lutosławski
Anton Webern
Sergei Rachmaninoff

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Composer Biography

Sergei Rachmaninov, a composer, suffered from low self-confidence after the failures of his First Piano Concerto and First Symphony, and a disappointing meeting with his idol, Tolstoy.

Composer Biography

Anton Webern, a pupil of Arnold Schoenberg, devoted himself exclusively to atonal composition after Schoenberg abandoned tonality in 1908.

Compositional Technique

Witold Lutoslawski, a composer, incorporated aleatory (random) procedures into his music in the 1960s, treating them with restraint and rationalizing rhythmically independent counterpoints with consistent harmonic underlay.

Composition History

Rachmaninov regained his compositional confidence with the help of Dr. Nikolay Dahl, a psychiatrist specializing in hypnosis, who provided therapeutic discussions on music and arts.

Compositional Technique

Despite their brevity, Webern's Op. 11 pieces for cello and piano demand a wide range of contrasting sonorities from the cellist and nuanced dynamics and attack from the pianist.

Compositional Technique

Webern's Drei kleine Stücke for cello and piano, composed in 1914, are extremely short, with the third piece being only ten bars long, showcasing 'expressionistic brevity and intensity'.