Cello concerto

You know, we didn't have the technology to have music in every room in those days so they would have to turn it up loud because it was downstairs in the lounge.

They'd leave my door open and what they would put on was Bach's Cello Concerto.

uh played by pablo casals and the yeah something that comforts me even now is that the um it's the cello concerto in g and it's the the the introduction to that it's very uh it's a very famous piece and you you would recognize it if you heard it um But yeah, that and my sleeping bag and my saggy old bed and my little thin feather pillow that went on the top of whatever other poor quality pillows we might have had.

And like I had cause, I knew what it meant to be uncomfortable in those days, right? My dad was, as I mentioned, he was a musician and he played double bass in various amateur orchestras.

and from time to time he would he always really wanted to get me excited about music he didn't really know how to do that if i'm honest uh i was always really interested in music and i i loved listening to uh to records that he had i loved um uh paul simon simon and garfunkel i loved there was all kinds of music that i loved but he was sure that he could get me excited about the pieces of music that he was going to be playing in the orchestra and it might have been possible but The nature of being in an amateur orchestra is you're not playing in a big fancy concert hall.

and her advice of always carrying on and striving to write the best music possible.

We really recommend listening to all her music, but especially her cello concerto, and we'll put a link to a few pieces in the show notes.

Thanks for listening.

On with the show.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So, Shari, you started out as a cellist and you've written this incredible cello concerto.

Would you like to tell us a bit more about this amazing piece?

And he gave me a record, which I really loved.

It was the Britten Cello Concerto, and on the other side was the Haydn Cello Concerto.

He might even have conducted it, actually, and I loved that.

I still do.

It's amazing.

Yeah.

The Allegro from the Cello Concerto No. 1 in C Major by Haydn, performed by Alyssa Wallerstein and the Trondheim soloists.

Eric, in the early 1970s, as we heard, you and Lynn discovered and bought this old ramshackle house in Provence, which you've written about in your latest book, Idle in Provence.

I feel like it's so important to sort of figure out what are the strengths of a particular ensemble and, you know, whether they need what they need, actually.

So, you know, for example, this week we're going to be... working with the amazing cellist Andrew Joyce, the principal cellist here, and he's doing the Haydn Cello Concerto.

And this morning we played it through and he's such a brilliant player and he leads so well and it's so clear what his intentions are.

I almost felt like a third wheel, you know, it's brilliant to be able to feel that way.

We truly have something for everyone, and you don't need to know anything about classical music to enjoy the orchestra or feel the power of music.

Some of my favorite moments are seeing people experiencing the orchestra for the first time and realizing, 'This is for me, too.'" Question two: Opening night paired Rachmaninoff's Second Symphony with the Fort Wayne premiere of Errol Flynn-- excuse me, Errol Wallen's cello, Cello Concerto.

What made that pairing right, and what did soloist Madeleine Kowalski bring to the concerto? Hall: "Opening night was a wonderful opportunity to bring together two very different works that, in their own ways, speak to the power and the emotional depths music can transport you to.

While Rachmaninoff's Symphony Number Two is one of those pieces that audiences return to again and again because it was so deeply human, the Wallen Cello Concerto brought an opportunity to create an intimate partnership with the soloist and the orchestra right there on stage.

And he said, I need you to come to Huntington, the festival, and it takes place in three months' time.

Can you do it? I said, well, I can only do it when I look at my diary, when we can do the Dvorak cello concerto in that winery.

And he said, okay,

right.

Well, Peter Whisperware, it's been a great honour having you here today.

But before I let you go, there is one final piece of music that we'll go out with.

And it is you yourself performing the opening of Walton's Cello Concerto, joined by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Geoffrey Tate.

Out of all the recordings that you've made, all the millions of recordings you've made, I think you've got 50 albums out there.