2009

PROGRAM C1 - 2009

Georg Mertens plays Cello Favourites from Bach to the Romantic

Jan 17 / Mar 21 / May 16 / Jul 18 / Sep 19 / Nov 21

(All items of the program have been recorded on the CD's "CELLO SOLOS" or "CELLO FAVOURITES"

S.RACHMANINOV	Vocalise Click to listen (No 16)
D.POPPER	Fond recollections (Happy recollections) Click to listen ( No 10)
W.H. SQUIRE	Tarantella Click to listen (No 14)
H. Eccles	from Sonata g minor: Largo - Allegro Click to listen (No 5/6)
J.S. BACH	from Suite No 1 G major Prelude - Courante See Prelude G major live Click to listen (No 7/8)
G. MERTENS	Erh Hu Improvisation Click to listen (No 10)
J. MASSENET	Meditation from "Thais" (for free score see "sheetmusic) Click to listen ( No 13)
P.I.TSCHAIKOVSKY	Valse Sentimental See Valse sentimental live Click to listen ( No 19)
C. SAINT - SAENS	The Swan (for free score see "sheetmusic) Click to listen (No 4)
D. POPPER	Hungarian Rhapsody Click to listen ( No 3)
M. de Falla	Nana (for free score see "sheetmusic) Click to listen (No 6)

This program is a collection of cello favourites selected for the ambience of the cave ranging from Bach and Vivaldi to Romantics like "The Swan" and Massenet's "Meditation from Thaiss" to David Poppers brilliant "Hungarian Rhapsody", also including Georg Mertens' "Erh Hu Improvisation" in which sounds are produced like from another world.

sheet muisc

(For program notes below click here)

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PROGRAM C2 - 2009

Cello Solos written and arranged for the Cathedral Chamber. All pieces of this program have only been performed by Georg Mertens and are written and arranged especially for the Cathedral Chamber.

Feb 21 / Apr 18 / Jun 20 / Aug 15 / Oct 17 / Dec 19

(All items of this program have been recorded on the CD's "CELLO SOLOS")

G. MERTENS	Variations on "Maytime" (for free score see "sheetmusic") Click to listen (No 2)
G. MERTENS	Cathedral Ciaconna Click to listen ( No 1)
H. VILLA - LOBOS (arr. G. Mertens)	Prelude No. 3 (for score see "sheetmusic") Click to listen ( No 11)
G. MERTENS	Arabian Improvisation Click to listen ( No 5)
ANONYMUS (arr. G. Mertens)	Spanish Romance (for score see "sheetmusic") See Spanish Romance live Click to listen ( No 15)
G. MERTENS	Tango Celloguitar (for score see "sheetmusic") Click to listen ( No 12)
A. PIAZZOLLA (arr: G. Mertens)	Verano Porteno (for score see "sheetmusic") See Verano Porteno live Click to listen ( No 8)
I. ALBENIZ (arr: G. Mertens)	Asturias (for score see "sheetmusic") Click to listen ( No 7)
Ananymus 1540 (arr: G. Mertens)	Ich armes Maegdelein (for score see "sheetmusic") Click to listen ( No 17)

This program is performed nowhere else in the world except here - similar as if you could experience Handels fireworks music at the original time and the original place.

Georg Mertens plays a cello made c 1740.

The music written and transcribed for this program is available on the web page "sheetmusic" (click below)

sheetmuisc

(For program notes below click here)

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The Cello Concerts in the Cave - History

The Cello Concert in the Caves started in 1997.
At this stage the Blue Mountains Trio (see webpage on left) played regularly at Jenolan Caves House. The manager at the time, Lorraine Duffy mentioned:" The Jenolan Caves complex includes a cave, the Cathedral Chamber, which has the best acoustics in the whole world." Georg: "I would love to visit a concert there. Do you know when they are on?" Lorraine: "There are none. Somehow no one organises them." Georg: "I'd love to play there!" Six weeks later the Cello Concerts in the Cave were born.
Today these concerts are the longest series of cello concerts on the planet with more than 130 concerts in more than 11 years.

Over eleven years the Cello Concerts in the Cave have evolved into a new genre: from concerts with a program of only the 6 Suites for cello solo by J.S.Bach into a fusion from Bach to Tangos. In the first program you can listen to Bach and Romantic Favourites, in the second program to music from Brazil and Spain to free improvisations. All pieces of this program have only been performed by Georg Mertens and are written and arranged especially for the Cathedral Chamber.

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Program Notes to C1

by Georg Mertens

Sergej Rachmaninov - Vocalise
Originally the Vocalise is written for voice. Vocalise means that instead of a song with words we have a melody sung without words. However the phrases (the length of breath) are often so long that they are difficult to sing - and the closest to the human voice is the cello, where this work became one of the standard repertoir. Originally Rachmaninov (Russian 1873-1943) wrote this piece accompanied with piano. I though like playing it unaccompanied, as he wrote in some sections pp (very soft) and the piano plays there heavy and full passages, drowning out the very beautiful soft melody. This piece introduces the audience to the cello singing in the cave.

Click to listen (No 16)

David Popper - Fond recollections (Happy recollections)
Titled also "In memory of my parents - Once upon more beautiful days".
Popper (Bohemian 1843-1913) wrote this remarkable melodies as a recollection of peaceful and inspired dialogs between his parents, using the high and low voice of the cello interacting with each other.

Click to listen (No 10)

William Henry Squire - Tarantella
There are many stories about the Tarantella, all leading back to the bite of the Tarantula spider of the Mediterranean. Supposed to, once you have been bitten by the big spider you jump (not fall) into a trance which makes you dance the Tarantella. You have not to resist the urge to dance or you will die. If you dance until you get frantic and collapse - you fall into a coma and next morning everything is fine.
Although to a large part a 20th century composer and cellist, Squire (English 1871-1963) writes in a full Romantic tradition keen on brilliance and effect. The Tarantella here takes the listener through the whole Tarantula cycle starting calmer to end up frantic.

Click to listen (No 14)

Johann Sebastian Bach - Suites for solo cello
Undoubtedly the set of the six suites for cello solo is the greatest masterpiece written for cello solo. The original of the Suites has been lost and it is among cellists a big questions, what choice of bowings one has to play - what would Bach have written. I rely in my performance on the contemporary facsimiles as published in the Urtext - facsimile edition by Barenreiter (Bettina Schwemer) and also on the edition of Werner Icking. Most cellists rely on the script of Bach's wife Anna Magdalena. However as pointed out (Schwemer) her script of the violin works virtually ignores often the correct bowing by Bach.
As a guitarist I have played the majority of Bach's works for solo violin on guitar and I am familiar with Bach's ideas on bowings on the violin. I also have played many transcriptions of the violin works on cello (available as free download from Werner Ickings Music Archive, WIMA). It became clear to me, that Anna Magdalenas bowings don't reflect the simplicity and common sense of Bach's bowings - Anna Magdalena did not play a string instrument. By trying to understand Bach's logic in bowing and incorporating the common ideas I came to my own edition. To my surprise I found my bowings literally in many movements of Werner Ickings edition, a violinist who also compared Bach's violin bowing concepts to the cello suites. I differ in places, as Icking was a violinist and hasn't played the suites on the cello. -
My cello is of Baroque origin, made during Bach's life time and is still fitted with the original Baroque bass bar.
To the interpretation (by G.M.) The part of the bow used: Since the reconstruction of the bow by Tourte c 1800 we can apply on the nut/frog a weight of 5-10kg, whereas in the middle and upper third the limit is c 700g, even if we push the bow to the limit. This is because of the pivot. The weight of 700 g is slightly above the limit we can apply with a Baroque bow in all parts, due to the low tension of hair. Therefore I play all Baroque music in the middle and upper third of the bow. The strong accents we can play at the nut were impossible in Baroque times and are out of style.
I play also wound nylon strings, in tension close to the gut they used.
Interpretation:
In Anna Magdalena's manuscript she slurs in bar 1 only note 3&4. This interesting bowing puts the second half of the bar in upbow, giving the repeat of the phrase less weight, a general Baroque practice. In bar 2 and 3 again are only 2 notes slurred, but this time note 2&3, a bit awkward, but creating naturally a softer dynamic. Only from bar 4 on she slurs the first 3 notes - creating naturally the final forte. All other sources, including the earlier one by Kellner shows consistently 3 slurred from bar 1 - 4 .
Thinking about the discrepancy, probably Bach's original had always the 3 first notes slurred - every manuscript except Anna Magdalena shows this. It is likely that J.S. was not fully happy with the interpretation he was hearing and instructed Anna Magdalena to modify the bowings to bring out the harmony flow of the first 4 bars more musical. It is helpful to play through all manuscripts as written. They show hidden meanings when executed, although we might choose to play the simple version, which seems more typical for Bach looking at his bowings in the violin partitas and sonatas.

See Prelude G major live on Youtube (click here)

Click to listen (No 7/8)

See Courante G major live on Youtube (click here)

 

Georg Mertens - Erh Hu Improvisation
One of my free improvisation. I have a rough concept, but never a particular plan. The improvisation is always different and depends on ideas and the mood of the day. The Erh Hu is a Chinese instrument in a similar range as the cello. One of its particularities is, that its 2 strings are fed through the bow, so that the bow and the instrument can never be separated - a symbolic union. In my performance I dismantel the bow and feed the middle strings (D and G) between hair and stick. This makes it possible to play the outer strings A and C together - which is usually impossible. I play also A and G together - the A from the top / the G from underneath. In the left hand I use only one finger and glide up and down (when the finger is tired, I take another one). Opposite to the general assumption, the clearness and intonation is by just shifting more accurate as when played with fingers. I am - even as the player - always wrapped into the absolute perfection of harmonies.
I used to play just free melodies, but once I played this piece at a private caves concert in front of an audience from Taiwan. They praised my sound and the imitation of the Erh Hu technique, but criricised, that I did not play purely pentatonic (only the notes CDEGA), still strictly used in classical Chinese music. Since then I improvise the frame parts A and C based on the pentatonic C scale, where as in the middle part with the G in the bass I just let go and improvise anything entering my mind.
This piece is an extension of what we expect a cello could sound like. I always think that instead of going atonal, why not finding ways of making a cello sound really different, something really new.

Click to listen (No 10)

Pjotr Iljich Tschaikovsky - Valse sentimental

Click to listen (No 19)

Camille Saint-Saens - The Swan
The cello jewel from the "Carnival of the Animals". That is what The Swan is known for. Originally the whole work though has been composed for 2 pianos, for a childrens birthday party. Saint-Saens took the work never seriously and it was never published in full until after his death. The Swan became famous in the orchestral version with harp and cello - the harp representing the water, the cello playing the swan himself.

Click to listen (No 4)

David Popper - Hungarian Rhapsody
David Popper (see C2, 1843-1913) was one of the greatest cellist in history, famous for his big sound, polished performances and his compositions. The later part of his professional life he was professor at the Budapest conservatoir (Hungary) where he wrote one of his most brilliant works, the Hungarian Rhapsody, full of expressive slow melodies, fast runs, very high (the note of the the highest key on the piano!) and very low parts, a masterpiece of cello entertainment.

Click to listen (No 3)

Jules Massenet - Meditation from "Thaiss"
This famous melody by Massenet (French 1842-1912) is from his Opera "Thais" (1884). For the present solo performance I added harmonies and small sections from the accompaniment. Although it is originally for violin I prefer it for cello - the cello has more ability to sing like a human voice.

Click to listen (No 13)

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Program Notes to C2

Georg Mertens - Variations on Maytime (Neidhardt)
The song "Maienzeit" or "Maytime" is the oldest song I know. Neidhardt (1180-1240) was a troubadour of the middle ages. This song is still sung in Germany and it has always been one of my favourites. The melody is based on a 6 note scale - the seventh note being missing like often in songs of this time. I limited the Variations on these 6 notes - in different ranges - tomaintain the flavour. Visitors tell me it sounds like very ancient folk music.
(for free score see "sheetmusic")

Click to listen (No 2)

Heitor Villa-Lobos - Prelude No 3 - transcribed from guitar by G.M.
I played this piece first on guitar in 1974 and my initial response was, that it would sound better on cello. In 1978 I wrote my first version, the current one is from 2006.
Heitor Villa-Lobos (Brazil, 1887-1959) played both cello and guitar, like me, and his compositions show a combination of a sense for a full and rich melody and also a continuous chord structure, the elemets I love to bring out in my play. Interpreting his music strikes something very familiar in me although he is strongly influenced by Brazilian folk music and I am German. In my view the piece gained a lot in the arrangement and I feel sad, that I have never been able to present Villa-Lobos the cello version.

Click to listen (No 11)

Georg Mertens - Arabian Improvisation
Like most our instruments, the cello has its origin in the Arab world; so has the violin, the organ, the guitar, the lute, the oboe, the clarinet and of course our numbers.
This piece turns out every time differently. Sometimes I start in one way, other times in another. In the main part I employ the open D string as a bordun - which means it sounds all the time. This gives the impression as if the solo part, the higher string - or sometimes lower - is accompanied by a support instrument, the D string. The cello sounds here - I am told - like not belonging to the classical instruments but an Eastern band.

Click to listen (No 5)

Anonymus - Spanish Romance - transcribed from guitar by G.M.
This Romance is one of the most well known classical guitar pieces. It was the theme in the movie "jeux interdit". Supposed to it has first been written down by an Italian source c 1890. On the other hand the "Romance" is a traditional Spanish character piece in 3 beats, and as such older than the Romantic period. I include in my arrangement a free introduction, a little cadenza, and treat the traditional theme rather as a chance to variety than a literal transcription.
(for score see "sheetmusic")

Click to listen (No 15)

Georg Mertens - Tango Celloguitar
Often just to play around I used to play the cello like a guitar - and many friends told me: write a piece like this, I have never heard anything like it. I delayed the plan for a long time, as probably nobody except me would be able to play the piece - you have to play both instruments on a professional level.
But last year (summer 2006/7) I finally wrote it. As a main feature I adopt the tremolo on the guitar (like in "Recuerdos del Alhambra" by Tarrega) and put underneath the melody a Tango bass rhythm.The bow is only used in the middle section, which I based on Eastern scales.What you hear is a cello in a very different way than usual.
(for score see "sheetmusic")

Click to listen (No 12)

Astor Piazzolla - Verano Porteno -- transcribed from guitar by G.M. 2007.
One of Piazzollas (Argentinia, 1921-1992) great Tangos. I have at home a recording with Piazzolla himself & his noneto and a guitar version. My transcription is mainly based on the guitar version with minor changes, where in the guitar version notes are missing, added or put in different ranges to accomodate the guitar technique. I do similar things to accomodate the cello technique and its different sound. The piece has strong rhythmical sections and a very lyrical part in Piazzollas typical dry sweetness with his excessively beautiful melodies. Composed c 1972, edited 1982.
(for score see "sheetmusic")

Click to listen (No 8)

Isaac Albeniz - Leyenda (Asturias) - transcribed from guitar by G.M.
Actually originally this piece is written for piano, as Albeniz (Spain, 1860-1909) was a pianist and did not play guitar. However Albeniz himself praised Francisco Tarrega's rendition for guitar as preferrable. Like many guitarists I performed this piece often and recorded it. I always felt that both, the piano and the guitar can't do justice to the long drawn menlodies in the slow middle section. Here the cello brings out the mournful tune like never heard on the other arrangements.
(for score see "sheetmusic")

Click to listen (No 7)