Hommage

à Chopin et Rachmaninov

CELLO / PIANO

Hommage explores the lyrical and deeply expressive voice of the cello through the music of two great pianist-composers, Frédéric Chopin and Sergei Rachmaninoff.

Both composers shared close artistic relationships with distinguished cellists: Chopin with Auguste Franchomme, his friend and musical collaborator, and Rachmaninoff with Anatoly Brandukov, to whom he dedicated his Sonata in G minor.

Drawing upon these relationships, the program brings together Chopin's nocturnes, preludes, and waltzes—many transcribed by Franchomme—with Rachmaninoff's monumental cello sonata. Through the cello's singing voice, Hommage celebrates the melodic imagination of two composers whose music remains inseparable from the expressive possibilities of the piano.

PROGRAM

Fryderyk Chopin

1810–1849
Nocturne in E minor, Op. 72 No. 1
arr. Sergei Taneyev
Prelude in E minor, Op. 28 No. 4
arr. Auguste Franchomme
Waltz in A minor, B. 150
arr. Auguste Franchomme
Nocturne in F major, Op. 15 No. 1
arr. Auguste Franchomme
Prelude in D-flat major, Op. 28 No. 15 — “Raindrop”
arr. Auguste Franchomme
Waltz in A minor, Op. 34 No. 2
arr. Auguste Franchomme
Nocturne in C-sharp minor, Op. posth.
arr. Gregor Piatigorsky

Sergei Rachmaninoff

1873–1943
Sonata in G minor, Op. 19
for cello and piano
I. Lento – Allegro moderato
II. Allegro scherzando
III. Andante
IV. Allegro mosso
Joseph Kuipers — cello
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