Frank Bridge’s Cello Sonata in D minor

Looking for music suitable for a Peacemaker Festival, it’s clear that the composer with strong pacifist convictions known for cello music is Frank Bridge (1879-1941), pictured here. 

His cello works, particularly his Cello Sonata in D minor, reflect his despair and anguish during World War I. ‘The opening movement, begun in 1913, starts with a soaring cello line and continues with rolling periods of lyrical flights and accompaniment which adds richness and tension to the music's progress,’ writes Jane Erb in her contribution to the Classical Net website. 

‘The contrasting second movement, first conceived as a slow movement followed by an independent finale, was compressed into an arch-shaped structure, incorporating a thematically derived scherzetto with the addition of an extended coda which refers to the
work's opening. The entire sonata, with the chromaticism of the slow section and the aggressive tonal and bi-tonal colors in the scherzo, hints at his later style.  At the American premiere in 1923 the audience (including Artur Rubinstein and Hans Kindler) was captivated by the lyrical beauty of the work, a favorite of its composer which has remained the most widely performed of his duet pieces.’

 

If you are interested in the history of early America, and Roger Conant as a peacemaker in troubled times you can join the Devon Peacemaker Festival Facebook group at 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/700424602802079