Born in Paris in 1899 Francis Poulenc soon became a notable composer and pianist. His Serenade originally composed in 1925-1926 for Voice and Piano met much success as part of his Bawdy Songs. Therefore it was well-received when Maurice Gendron transcribed it for Cello and Piano. Poulenc as a member of Les Six composed music in a style contrary to that of Richard Wagner and impressionists Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. Serenade reflects the composer's contrasting style making use of a 6/8 time signature double stops variations in articulation and wide range on the Cello.Being an imaginative and evocative composition Serenade transcribed for Cello and Piano is a pleasurable addition to the repertoire.

Born in Paris in 1899, Francis Poulenc soon became a notable composer and pianist. His Serenade, originally composed in 1925-1926 for Voice and Piano, met much success as part of his Bawdy Songs. Therefore, it was well-received when Maurice Gendron transcribed it for Cello and Piano. Poulenc, as a member of Les Six, composed music in a style contrary to that of Richard Wagner and impressionists Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. Serenade reflects the composer's contrasting style, making use of a 6/8 time signature, double stops, variations in articulation and wide range on the Cello. Being an imaginative and evocative composition, Serenade, transcribed for Cello and Piano, is a pleasurable addition to the repertoire.

Arrangeur: Florence Eller. Par STRAUSS RICHARD. The Cello Sonata Op. 6 was composed over an apparently frequently interrupted period of three years, an extraordinarily long time for Strauss's early creative phase. The compositional process spawned two independent versions of the work, the first of which is published for the first time on the basis of the text in the Critical Edition of the Works of Richard Strauss in the current edition as a practical musical text. The genesis of the two versions and the reasons for revision can only be reconstructed in part: only one of the surviving autographs bears a date and the second version only survives in printed form. What is more, Strauss did not communicate in greater detail on this composition in correspondence with his family and friends. There are enormous differences between the two versions of the Sonata: Strauss deleted the entire second and third movements Larghetto and Allegro vivace, replacing them with a newly composed Andante and Finale. In the first movement, Allegro con brio, Strauss retained the thematic-motivic material and compositionally complex passages such as the three-voice fugue in the development section (from bar 241 in the first version and bar 275 in the second version) almost intact in the new version of the sonata, but also undertook extensive alterations, particularly in the structure of the piano part, the motivic-thematic development of the movement and its harmony which became far more ambitious.12 Particular attention should be drawn to the repetitive accompaniment of the con espressione theme beginning in bar 32 and the significantly shorter development in the first version. The current printed edition of the first version of Richard Strauss's Cello Sonata now makes it possible to follow Strauss's compositional development during this period. The significance of the differences between the versions also mean that two sonata compositions for violoncello and piano by Richard Strauss with fundamental disparities in their underlying character are now available for performance. (from the foreword by the editors)/ Répertoire / Violoncelle et Piano

Ernest Bloch (1880-1959) was a Swiss-born Jewish composer. Schelomo: Rhapsodie Hébra que was the last and best known works of his Jewish Cycle in which he attempted to find some sort of musical identity - the Jewish state having not yet come into existence when he was writing. The solo Cello is intended to represent the voice of King Solomon while the orchestral accompaniment is often seen to express Solomon?s hidden thoughts. This edition has had the accompaniment transcribed for the Piano and includes a separate score for the Cello part.

Born into a family of bankers that had lived in Florence since the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895-1968) studied under Pizzetti at the city’s Conservatoire. He soon became one of the leading members of the young Italian school which broke with the tyranny of bel canto to return to the instrumental tradition of the Italian masters from the Baroque era. In 1928 Amédée-Landély Hettich a vocal teacher in Paris asked Castelnuovo-Tedesco to write a vocalise for the Répertoire moderne de Vocalises-Études the publication of which he was supervising at Leduc. Castelnuovo-Tedesco’scontribution entitled Vocalise-Étude for Medium Voice became so popular that it was immediately transcribed several times over. The present adaptation for cello and piano was created with prior consent from the composer by the famous Catalan cellist Gaspar Cassadó in 1930. The works opens with a poignant lamento that grieves the tragic fate of the Jewish people; it is followed by a folk dance whose “brisk and stubborn” movement marks with panache an imperious refusal to yield to resignation. The composer adopted the same proactive stance himself when in 1939 fleeing Mussolini’s antisemitic laws he decided to emigrate to the United States a land of refuge to which he would remain faithful until his death some thirty years later.

A fabulous work of chamber music by Swiss composer Ernest Bloch completed in 1924. At its heart Bloch's Jewish music is emotional expressionist and despite a slow sombre mood is coloured by an exotic ambience which reflects his increasingly Jewish voice. For Cello with Piano accompaniment Prayer has an atmosphere of intense sadness and inward feeling and the three pieces here are far less linked with virtuosity than with the power of expression and faith.

CELLOWISE is an exciting new collection of arrangements from the popular classics. The standard is from Grade 3 upwards and included are Bach Badinerie Handel Sarabande Haydn Gipsy Rondo Gossec Gavotte and Tambourin Brahms Hungarian Dance and other favourites with attached CD of top quality performances making a pleasant and varied recital programme both to listen to and of course to play. Cellowise is featured on the 2014 Bauhinia Cup String Competition in Hong Kong and is on the current syllabuses of Trinity College London the Musik-PrüfungsKommission in Vienna and the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin 2015-2018.FOOTNOTE TO CONTENTSOriginally a folk-dance from Medieval Spain the Sarabande became the spiritual centre-point of the 18th. Century dance suite and well-known to cellists through the Bach Suites.The Badinerie is a musical haiku stunning in its precision and economy of means and like a poem condenses much meaning and expression into few words.Sir Yehudi Menuhin once called the 'Erbarme Dich' solo the most beautiful piece of music ever written for the violin. This poignant duet for voice and obligato is about remorse betrayal and the universal theme of suffering. It is one of the centre-pieces of the St. Matthew Passion and is sung after Peter has denied Christ betraying him to the authorities and to his Crucifixion.Gavotte and Tambourin. These two Dances reflect the political opposites of the French Revolution - one a popular dance for partying and celebration the other more courtly and considered a favourite of Marie Antoinette.Rondo all'Ongarese and Hungarian Dance.Hungarian Folk music is fiery and impassioned with virtuoso techniques of embellishment and improvisation. Haydn and Brahms incorporated these elements into Classical forms.Like other Romantic and early-Romantic composers (Mendelssohn and Schubert) Brahms was attracted to Scotland as a wild and beautiful country of myth and