Sowash: 1st movement from Concerto for Cello with Strings & Clarinet

After several years of gentle pestering, the Bulgarian-American cellist Kalin Ivanov finally convinced me, by dangling the prospect of a premiere performance in Carnegie Hall, to write a concerto for him.  True to his word, he premiered the work in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and he has performed the piece many times since.

He recently sent me a marvelous recording of his performance with the Las Colinas Symphony, a Dallas-area orchestra.  I’m eager for you to hear all four movements, but .  let’s listen to the first movement today.

Kalin and I talked at length about the piece before any notes were written down.  We agreed it should be tuneful, tonal, accessible.  Born in Bulgaria, now a new American citizen, Kalin wanted a piece that would bridge the two cultures, combining European and American musical gestures.

What is more American-sounding than a folk hymn?  The concerto begins quietly, with the cello playing an original folk hymn, all the way through, all by himself.  Then the clarinet plays it, the cello in canon right behind, with the strings plucking a tentative accompaniment.  Eight minutes later, after a tumble of fugues, the hymn returns at the end of the movement, played in rich harmonies by the entire ensemble.

What is more European-sounding than a fugue?   Between the opening statements of the hymn and the return of the hymn at the end, come two fugues, both derived from the second line of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”  The subject is derived from the notes we sing with the words, “Buy me some peanuts and crackerjack.”  It’s disguised a bit, so listen carefully at 2:02 and see if you can spot that fragment.  The fugues climax at 6:20 with a quotation of the ending of that beloved song:  “For it’s one, two, three strikes you’re out at the old ball game.”  it’s slightly altered and it goes by quickly.  So listen carefully!

I remember my grandmother Kate Hoff, my Nana, singing that song with gusto … and she and my grandfather were both born in Serbia, not far from Bulgaria.  Arriving in Ohio as immigrant children, they were intensely proud to be Americans, eager to embrace the culture of their adopted homeland, a homeland that, they felt, had adopted them.  Remembering this, I am pained by the anti-immigrant rhetoric we hear so often today.  My experience of immigrants is personal; I think of my grandparents and what they brought to this country.

In between the two fugues, at 5:30, comes another folk hymn, contrasting with the opening one, and very sweet.  The fugues end with the cello’s cadenza, a bridge back to the hymn tune that began the movement.

You’ll notice that the clarinetist is the cellist’s rival, competing for the spotlight usually reserved, exclusively, for the concerto's soloist.  This is yet another metaphor.  The clarinet is the outsider, a minority of one, a wind instrument, dull black with silver keys, while all the other instruments are made of strings and shining, varnished wood.  Like any minority worth its salt, the clarinet brings richness, color and diversity to the whole.

The movement is entitled “Hymns and Fugues.”  It juxtaposes and, for me at least, reconciles the very different musical gestures of the American and European traditions.

To hear the opening movement of my Concerto for Cello with Strings & Clarinet, performed by cellist Kalin Ivanov, clarinetist Jonathan Jones and the strings of the Las Colinas Symphony Orchestra under Maciej Zoltowski, click here:
http://www.sowash.com/recordings/mp3/Cello_cto_I.mp3

To see a PDF of a cello/clarinet/piano reduction of the score, click here:
http://www.sowash.com/recordings/mp3/Cello_cto_I.pdf