Cello Recital - Debussy & Järnefelt

Last night was my cello teacher's studio recital and I played two pieces.

I started with the first movement (1st part of 3) of a Sonata for cello and piano by Debussy. It is a gorgeous piece that ends with anticipation of more to follow.

Debussy is called an Impressionist composer and made music that some would consider strange. The first movement has a hint of some of the absurd that really shows up in the parts that follow (the parts I did not play).

The second piece I played was by Armas Järnefelt. It has a very lovely melody theme which repeats three times without change. The theme is delightful, however I hated that it was identically repeated! I was surprised by my strong feelings. I couldn't stand to play the piece because by that third time the melody was so tiresome. So, I made a variation for the theme in the middle and then that made all the difference - I could hardly wait to perform it.

Audio of Larry with piano accompaniment: (headphones recommended)

Sonata in Dm (Claude Debussy)

Berceuse (Armas Järnefelt)

I knew that my playing wasn't perfect. (I cringe as I listen to the first, the more difficult piece.)   :-)   I have a projection in my mind of how I want to be able to play the music, often based in part on performance by others (often by professionals). However, I have come to know that my playing is never as good at a performance as my memory of my best practice run, therefore I am happy with the result.

Several people came up to me afterwards and were very appreciative, and more than I can remember before. So, the performance was a success!