Cello Recital - Brahms Sonata

Usually after a recital I have a break, but then eventually a choice is made of a new piece to perform at an upcoming recital.

Recitals are useful because performance art calls out to be performed and to be shared with others. There are also a good learning event in themselves: Only practice and familiarity can overcome nervousness. There are traditions for the process of performance, and these are learned by doing.

I already had interest in parts of Brahms' Sonata No.1 for Cello and Piano, but other parts seemed strange or uninteresting to me. I had even bought the sheet music, however, I had not put it in my iPad music app. Ellen brought it up as a suggestion and after listening to it again, I thought I could get into it.

Certainly the piece is interesting in that it covers the whole range of the cello - from the bottom note up to almost as high as you can go. It has sweet parts and rowdy parts. I think it was the noisy parts that I did not "get". However, contrasts are often needed to appreciate things: loud vs soft, low vs high, gentle vs rough, tension vs resolution. This one has it all.

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