SALONEN YO-YO MA LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC | ESA-PEKKA SALONEN 2 SALONEN CELLO CONCERTO

I 13:26

II 8:43

III 12:56

YO-YO MA CELLO LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC

ESA-PEKKA SALONEN CONDUCTOR

3 ESA-PEKKA SALONEN vocation; there is nothing contempt- been inspiring to know that his tech- ible in that.” (No programme note nique knows no limits. Perhaps more CELLO CONCERTO (2017) feels complete without a quotation important: nor does his imagination. from Thus Spake Zarathustra.)

I have learnt, however, that virtuosity doesn’t limit itself to the mechanics of playing an instrument. A true virtu- oso can also capture the beauty and Af te r all , ome of the ideas for my Cello I have never – not even during the expression in the quietest moments, all those symbols SConcerto can be traced back quite dogmatic and rigid modernist to fill near-stasis with life through a on paper mean nothing at least three decades, but the actual days of my youth – felt that the very musician’s imagination and ability to until somebody material for the piece was mostly de- idea of writing a solo concerto would communicate. In my other life as a per- gives them life. veloped in the summer of 2015, when in itself be burdened with some kind of former I witness that almost every day: I decided to spend a few months re- dusty bourgeois tradition. A concerto how musicians can create meaning searching new kinds of textures with- is simply an orchestral work where one from a single note. The composer-me out a concrete plan for how to use or several instruments have a more is humbled by it, but also deeply them. I decided to use some phrases prominent role than the others. A con- grateful. After all, all those symbols on The first movement opens with what in from my 2010 solo cello work knock, certo does not suggest a formal de- paper mean nothing until somebody my sketchbook had the title “Chaos to breathe, shine in the second and third sign the same way a symphony does. gives them life. line.” Chaos here must be understood movements, as I always felt that the I also happen to like the concept of a metaphorically, as a stylized version of music of the solo piece was almost virtuoso operating at the very limits It has been a very great pleasure and the idea. I like the concept of a simple orchestral in its scope and character, of what is physically (and sometimes honour to write a concerto for one of thought emerging from a complex and would function well within an or- mentally) possible. In Nietzsche’s the most unique life-givers and com- landscape. Almost like consciousness chestral environment. words: “You have made danger your municators of our time, Yo-Yo Ma. It has developing from clouds of dust.

4 I imagined the solo cello line as a trajectory of a moving object in space being followed and emulated by other lines/ instruments/moving obje c t s . This leads to the second semi-cosmo- starts with a wedge-formed cloud [>] the as some kind of gigan- logical metaphor: a comet. I imagined and ends with another [<], if one can tic lung, expanding and contract- the solo cello line as a trajectory of imagine such a thing. The slow cello ing first slowly, but accelerating to a a moving object in space being fol- arches are looped to create harmo- point of mild hyperventilation which lowed and emulated by other lines/ ny from single lines. Sometimes the leads back to the dance-like mate- instruments/moving objects. A bit loops are dispersed in space. The rial. Quixotic solo cello episodes lead like a comet’s tail. In musical terms it middle section is a playful duet be- to a joyful coda based on the “lung” could be described as a canon but not tween the solo cello and the alto flute. music, but now with a solo cello line. quite, as the imitation is not always Finally the kinetic energy burns itself literal or precise. The gestus remains, The third movement starts with a slow, out gently, the rapid movement slows however, almost identical every time. brooding cello solo under the residue down and the cello line climbs slowly Sometimes the imitating cloud flies of the second wedge-cloud. The ex- up to a stratospherically high B-flat, above the cello, sometimes in the very pression quickly becomes more extro- two centimeters to the left of the same register. It thins out to two lines verted through a series of accelerandi. highest note of the piano. and finally to one. A rhythmic mantra starts to develop in the congas and bongos. It will ap- Esa-Pekka Salonen There are faster, more playful epi- pear often later in the course of the sodes alternating with the cloud, and movement, mostly in the timpani. This Sometimes the finally the movement gains enough music is often dance-like; sometimes imitating cloud flies speed for the balance to tilt towards gesticulating wildly, perhaps from the above the cello, fast music. At the end a variation of sheer joy of no longer having anything sometimes in the very the cloud returns. to do with clouds and processes. same register.

The second movement is very simple An acrobatic solo episode leads to It thins out to two lines in form, more complex in texture. It a fast tutti section where I imagined and finally to one.

6 7 World Premiere Recording Recorded live at Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, CA – February 8, 2018 Producer: Steven Epstein Recording Engineers: Richard King and Fred Vogler Assistant Engineer: Sergey Parfenov Mixing Engineer: Richard King Sound Design: Ella Wahlström Mixed at the Clubhouse Studio, Rhinebeck, NY Walt Disney Concert Hall Audio Crew: Kevin Wapner, Randy Piotroski, Leland Alexander and Robert Schraut LA Phil Music and Artistic Director: Gustavo Dudamel LA Phil CEO: Simon Woods LA Phil Project Manager: Jessie Farber Mr Salonen is represented worldwide by Fidelio Arts Ltd Publisher: © Chester Music Ltd 2016 Artwork: Anja Hoppe Design Cover: © plainpicture/Spitta + Hellwig Photos (pp. 2, 7): © LA Phil

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