Farewell to philosophy. Par BRYARS GAVIN. I have a great fondness for the lower string instruments: I am a bass player, my mother is a cellist, as are both my daughters; my own ensemble includes two violas, a cello and a bass, and for the instrumentation of my opera Medea I omit the entire violin section from the orchestra. As I have written a number of works for solo instrument or voice with orchestra I welcomed the opportunity to write a concerto for cello and orchestra and especially one which focuses particularly on the instrument’s lyrical qualities. Although the piece is in one continuous movement, and the soloist is playing almost without a break, it nevertheless falls into distinct sections which are recognisable by a shift of tempo as well as by a change in the music’s character. One of the early ideas Julian Lloyd Webber and I discussed was that it might form a companion piece to one of the Haydn concertos. Given my friendship with some members of the English Chamber Orchestra and my awareness of their repertoire, this suggested a number of particular musical references. The subtitle to the work, for example, combines the subtitles of two idiosyncratic Haydn symphonies and I allude to them in different ways but chiefly through orchestration: for The Philosopher by including a section in the concerto where the orchestration resembles that of the symphony’s first movement (pairs of English and French horns, muted violins and unmuted lower strings); for The Farewell, by the progressive reduction in the orchestration towards the end. Indeed, apart from the orchestral tutti in the last few bars, the last pages of the score are virtually for string quartet. The subtitle also refers to my own background as a philosophy graduate... The piece was commissioned by Philips Classics for Julian Lloyd Webber and is dedicated to him. The first performance was given by Julian Lloyd Webber and the English Chamber Orchestra conducted by James Judd, 21 November 1995, Barbican Hall, London. Gavin Bryars/ Répertoire / Violoncelle et Orchestre

This is one of the best Cello concertos of the twentieth century and readily communicates the Bohuslav Martinu strong feelings for his homeland. Written over the Christmas and New year period of 1944-45 in New York it is full ofhis reactions to that last dramatic winter of the war and the desire to go home. It is an expansive work over 35 minutes in length in the standard three movements. Typically for Martinu the first movement is inModerato tempo. The opening gesture is highly characteristic: A pulsing rhythm establishes itself in the orchestra and a striving rising theme with a contradictory rhythm contends with it. The second movement Andante pocomoderato has a general pulse that is not much slower than that of the first. It is episodic with a faster central section and then a truly magical and heartfelt treatment of the main subject in which Martinu expresses hislonging for home. The final movement Allegro is a driving energetic conclusion with a solo cadenza that breaks the ongoing rhythm and provides a touching moment of contemplation before the joyous conclusion. This editioncontains a Piano reduction of the Orchestral part for rehearsal purposes.