Cello and piano
SKU: BO.B.3724
Composed by J. Cassado/M. Mestre. Published by Editorial de Musica Boileau (BO.B.3724).
Cassado could be considered are the first great Catalan symphonist of the 19th Century and one of the first pre-coursers of Nationalism in our country. His is a Nationalism that is solidly based on central European traditions, mainly Germanic in its.
Plus Ultra is a special case in which the desire to exhibit his deepest Nationalist sentiments took a second place to a more global style into which he incorporated harmonies and melodic turns that recall Rachmaninoff more than Albeniz. Plus Ultra can be considered as a musical thought which, in spite of references or paraphrases of some typical aspects of Spanish music of the era, is an authentic lied in which the cello sings out, using maximum of its expressive possibilities, with a piano accompaniment of the first order.
In this work Cassado makes more extensive use of pianissimo, which is more typical of the French school, than in any other of his works. Through the use of gestures which are almost Impressionist, as well as refined and tasteful harmonies, the composer divides the musical discourse between the two instruments creating a fantastic work which his son Gaspar performed in concerts.
