I was speaking with a student this past week about the importance of goals - they can be very driving forces that help us to achieve great things. Musicians are primarily performers, so it makes sense that performances are usually markers for our goals.
Thinking on a grander scale, however, I thought it might be fun to look at the end of the Suzuki books over the next few weeks. One of my advanced students will be performing a wonderful piece named ‘Elegie’ by Gabriel Faure from the end of Book 8 in the upcoming ‘virtual recital’. The final book in the Suzuki cello method are the three movements from the Concerto in C Major by Haydn. It’s a wonderful work for solo cello with orchestral accompaniment. By definition, a concerto is
a musical composition for a solo instrument or instruments accompanied by an orchestra, especially one conceived on a relatively large scale.
Generally speaking, a concerto will have three movements, or sections, that allow the player to showcase their skill on the instrument. They usually start with a fast movement, then have a slow movement and end with a fast and light movement. So…FAST, SLOW, FAST.
A concerto is all about showcasing the solo instrument and the player. Probably the three instruments that have more concerti written than any others are the violin, cello and piano. The instruments know very few limitations.
Here is a very nice recording of the Haydn Concerto in C Major. Notice at 8:05 when the orchestra drops out and it’s just the cellist playing by himself. That’s called a cadenza and is often written by the performer themselves rather than the composer. It allows the player to insert some of their ideas into the piece.
I would love to hear some of your thoughts and ideas after listening, so I will turn the comments on to allow for some discussion.
Enjoy!