Repertoire

Henri Dutilleux: Trois strophes sur le nom de Sacher (Three Stanzas on the Name Sacher) (1976) 9′
J. S. Bach: Cello Suite No. 5 in C minor, BWV 1011 (1717-23) 27′
Jörg Widmann: Melodie (Melody) (2019) 7′
Zoltán Kodály: Sonata for solo cello, Op. 8 (1915) 30′

Artists

Nicolas Altstaedt, cello

Program

Henri Dutilleux created the first part of Trois strophes sur le nom de Sacher (Three Stanzas on the Name Sacher) after Rostropovich offered him a collective birthday present for director Paul Sacher, and later added two more pieces. The gift consisted of a set of variations based on Sacher’s name, translated musically from Germanic notation, as Bach had done with his name in several works, such as the Cello Suite in C minor, BWV 1011. Bach’s cello suites must be understood as a single discourse, which are developed with coherence. They are closely linked to Pau Casals, who rescued them from oblivion and turned them into emblematic pieces for cellists. Casals said that in all of Bach’s cello suites, the prelude portrayed the general character of the work, and pointed out that “the beginning of the fifth suite, in C minor, is obscure, dramatic and threatening”. The programme also includes Zoltán Kodály’s Sonata for Solo Cello, Op. 8, another key work in the cello repertoire, which is infused with elements of Hungarian musical folklore. Melodie by Jörg Widmann, one of the most versatile contemporary artists, will also be performed.

This concert is included in the program of the Barcelona Obertura Spring Festival 2023