Cello Concerto No. 3 (Thomas)

Last updated March 18, 2019

The Cello Concerto No. 3, Legend of the Phoenix, is a composition for cello solo and orchestra by the American composer Augusta Read Thomas. The work was commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra with contributions from Bill and Solange Brown. It was first performed in Boston on March 14, 2013, by the cellist Lynn Harrell and the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the conductor Christoph Eschenbach.^[1]^[2]^[3] Thomas subsequently adapted the piece into a viola concerto in 2013.^[4]

The cello ( CHEL-oh; plural cellos or celli) or violoncello ( VY-ə-lən-CHEL-oh; Italian pronunciation: [vjolonˈtʃɛllo]) is a string instrument. It is played by bowing or plucking its four strings, which are usually tuned in perfect fifths an octave lower than the viola: from low to high, C₂, G₂, D₃ and A₃. It is the bass member of the violin family, which also includes the violin, viola and the double bass, which doubles the bass line an octave lower than the cello in much of the orchestral repertoire. After the double bass, it is the second-largest and second lowest (in pitch) bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra. The cello is used as a solo instrument, as well as in chamber music ensembles (e.g., string quartet), string orchestras, as a member of the string section of symphony orchestras, most modern Chinese orchestras, and some types of rock bands.

An orchestra is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which mixes instruments from different families, including bowed string instruments such as violin, viola, cello, and double bass, as well as brass, woodwinds, and percussion instruments, each grouped in sections. Other instruments such as the piano and celesta may sometimes appear in a fifth keyboard section or may stand alone, as may the concert harp and, for performances of some modern compositions, electronic instruments.

Augusta Read Thomas is an American composer.

Composition

The concerto has a duration of roughly 26 minutes and is composed in a single continuous movement.^[1] Thomas described the deliberately ambiguous title of the piece in an interview with The Boston Globe , remarking:

A movement is a self-contained part of a musical composition or musical form. While individual or selected movements from a composition are sometimes performed separately, a performance of the complete work requires all the movements to be performed in succession. A movement is a section, "a major structural unit perceived as the result of the coincidence of relatively large numbers of structural phenomena".

A unit of a larger work that may stand by itself as a complete composition. Such divisions are usually self-contained. Most often the sequence of movements is arranged fast-slow-fast or in some other order that provides contrast.

The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts, since its creation by Charles H. Taylor in 1872. The newspaper has won a total of 26 Pulitzer Prizes as of 2016, and with a total paid circulation of 245,824 from September 2015 to August 2016, it is the 25th most read newspaper in the United States. The Boston Globe is the oldest and largest daily newspaper in Boston.

Life is short, and when I come to my drafting tables, I want to express a positive spirit outward. I feel like my music is colorful and whimsical and full of sunshine and light flickering and percussion and bells and high tessituras and this kind of illuminated sound. So images of skies and lights and orbits and aurora — they feel really right to me, even though I don't have to tell the audience that this is that particular legend or this particular phoenix. It's much more like a metaphor for an optimism in life.^[2]

Instrumentation

The work is scored for solo cello and a large orchestra comprising piccolo, two flutes, oboe, cor anglais, two clarinets (doubling bass clarinet), bassoon, contrabassoon, two horns, three trumpets (doubling piccolo trumpet), trombone, bass trombone, four percussionists, harp, piano, and strings.^[1]

The piccolo is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The modern piccolo has most of the same fingerings as its larger sibling, the standard transverse flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written. This gave rise to the name ottavino, which the instrument is called in the scores of Italian composers. It is also called flauto piccolo or flautino.

The Western concert flute is a transverse (side-blown) woodwind instrument made of metal or wood. It is the most common variant of the flute. A musician who plays the flute is called a flautist, flutist, flute player, or (rarely) fluter.

Oboes belong to the classification of double reed woodwind instruments. Oboes are usually made of wood, but there are also oboes made of synthetic materials. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. A soprano oboe measures roughly 65 cm long, with metal keys, a conical bore and a flared bell. Sound is produced by blowing into the reed at a sufficient air pressure, causing it to vibrate with the air column. The distinctive tone is versatile and has been described as "bright". When the word oboe is used alone, it is generally taken to mean the treble instrument rather than other instruments of the family, such as the bass oboe, the cor anglais, or oboe d'amore

Reception

Reviewing the world premiere, Jeremy Eichler of The Boston Globe highly praised the concerto, writing:

Despite its subtitle "Legend of the Phoenix," the work has no explicit narrative but unfolds in a single 30-minute span that divides into coherent sections. The first is full of expansively songful cello writing, with the brass on occasion interjecting fractured, flash-mob fanfares, appearing from nowhere and disappearing nearly as fast. The solo writing eventually gathers speed and angularity and the rhythms grow more jazzy before the cello takes us into a hazier, dreamier landscape. There is a vibrant pizzicato section and some ruggedly expressive solo cadenzas in the final pages. The work comes full circle, ending as it began with a high blast from the cello.

He added, "The crowd's reception went well beyond the polite applause sometimes given to new scores."^[5] David Wright of The Classical Review also lauded Thomas's "skillful scoring" and particularly complimented the orchestral writing, noting, "At times it seemed one was listening to a Concerto for Orchestra and Cello instead of the other way around." He continued:

The concerto was a continuous piece lasting about 30 minutes, with four identifiable sections that brought some variety of tempo and mood—but not much. The music kept its shimmering colors and optimistic outlook throughout, and yet offered so much to keep the ear engaged that, when Harrell, playing alone at the end, finally put the period on this long sentence, one was surprised that a half-hour had passed.^[6]

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References

1 2 3 Thomas, Augusta Read (2012). "Cello Concerto No. 3, Legend of the Phoenix". G. Schirmer Inc. Retrieved January 25, 2016.
1 2 Weininger, David (March 9, 2013). "BSO to premiere work by Augusta Read Thomas". The Boston Globe . Retrieved January 25, 2016.
↑ Delacoma, Wynne (March 11, 2013). "Augusta Read Thomas cello concerto to receive world premiere by Lynn Harrell and BSO". Boston Classical Review. Retrieved January 25, 2016.
↑ Thomas, Augusta Read (2013). "Viola Concerto No. 2, Legend of the Phoenix". G. Schirmer Inc. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
↑ Eichler, Jeremy (March 15, 2013). "A delicately constructed cello concerto debuts at BSO". The Boston Globe . Retrieved January 25, 2016.
↑ Wright, David (March 16, 2013). "Thomas cello concerto debuts in blaze of glory with Harrell and Boston Symphony". The Classical Review. Retrieved January 25, 2016.

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[Score-1] 1 2 3 Thomas, Augusta Read (2012). "Cello Concerto No. 3, Legend of the Phoenix". G. Schirmer Inc. Retrieved January 25, 2016.

[Boston_Globe-2] 1 2 Weininger, David (March 9, 2013). "BSO to premiere work by Augusta Read Thomas". The Boston Globe . Retrieved January 25, 2016.

[3] Delacoma, Wynne (March 11, 2013). "Augusta Read Thomas cello concerto to receive world premiere by Lynn Harrell and BSO". Boston Classical Review. Retrieved January 25, 2016.

[4] Thomas, Augusta Read (2013). "Viola Concerto No. 2, Legend of the Phoenix". G. Schirmer Inc. Retrieved March 15, 2016.

[5] Eichler, Jeremy (March 15, 2013). "A delicately constructed cello concerto debuts at BSO". The Boston Globe . Retrieved January 25, 2016.

[6] Wright, David (March 16, 2013). "Thomas cello concerto debuts in blaze of glory with Harrell and Boston Symphony". The Classical Review. Retrieved January 25, 2016.