| |
| | Pro Arte: Schumann; Cello Concerto (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03) |
 | | He composed his Cello Concerto in just two weeks, completing it on the very day of his first concert with the Düsseldorf orchestra. |
 | | Moreover, the Cello Concerto is unusually concentrated; it needs several hearings for full appreciation of its compact form, its connections between movements - links of sonority and effect, including the wonderful opening sound of woodwind chords, pizzicato strings, and a lovely melody in the solo cello. |
 | | In the slow movement, the chords derived from the opening are pervasive, and the cello, after a wonderfully Schumannesque songlike theme, turns rather to recitative, implying thoughtful speech rather than song, poignantly expressed and shared between the soloist and the orchestra. |
| www.proarte.org /notes/schumann.htm (576 words) |
|