My “cello play date” is finally here!

ShiroKuro

Back in May, I wrote about my plans to get together with a cellist for some cello+piano music, we ended up having to postpone and then he was out of town. But now he’s back and we’re on, he’s coming to my house tomorrow! Yay!

He’s a doctoral student in cello performance (and I’ve heard him perform, he’s amazing), and he’s also bringing his girlfriend, who I gather is a professional violinist.

What on earth have I gotten myself into. 😅

My teacher (who is friends with the cellist) said she wants to listen, so I might invite her to come at the tail end of our practice.

Then I’ll serve cake or something afterwards, to make up for all the awkwardness I anticipate will occur when I try to play with them.

😂😂

KevinM

It still sounds wonderful. I can read your excitement for it.

navindra

ShiroKuro Wow, enjoy the experience and have a great time!

ShiroKuro

I will let you all know how it goes! 🙂

ShiroKuro

Well that was amazing! Sooo fun!

My cello friend came over, with his girlfriend who is a professional violinist. We played the three pieces I had prepped, it went really well! Two pieces I played with the cellist and one I played with the violinist. We had just ran through all the pieces when my piano teacher arrived (as intended), so after that "rehearsal," then we played all the pieces again with my teacher and my spouse as audience. I played pretty well (for one of the pieces, I played it much better the first time, but the mistakes were mostly dropped notes rather than big obvious bungles).

All in all, I was quite pleased to have been able to play well. But the bigger thing was, they are both amazing musicians and it was such a treat to get to play with them!

Oh, and after that, they "sightread" through two pieces (both of which I didn't know and now can't remember what they were). I put sightread in quotes because their literal first time ever play through was a beautiful performance that was seemingly flawless!

So the whole thing was an absolute treat! Oh and then we had literal treats, cake and so on, so that was fun! 🙂

I have recordings but I have to figure out how to ask them if they're ok with me sharing it with my imaginary friends at PT... 😅

ShiroKuro

BTW, there is nothing like playing with a highly experienced musician by your side. It makes me feel so relaxed and is a huge confidence boost! It's like standing on the absolute most rock solid foundation and knowing that, because of the foundation, you will be able to jump so high you'll touch the stars.

It feels absolutely glorious.

pseudonym58

I'm glad to hear that it was a very positive experience!

ShiroKuro

By the way, both people on PT and also my piano teacher said that when playing with a cellist, the pianist needs to play somewhat quietly because you can drown out the cello.

Well, not this guy. He was amazing, and had such a big sound. I was carefully not to bang out my notes of course, but his musical presence was so distinct. And he had such a great tone. sigh… 🙂

Afterwards when we were talking about the differences between piano parts and cello parts, and I think I said something about how the scores for piano accompaniments are often very difficult (lots of notes!), he said that one of his teachers long ago had said that a cellist’s job is to play in tune, while a pianist’s job is to play all the notes.

Sounds about right 😃

pseudonym58

I am experiencing that first hand, as an arrangement of a Poulenc solo piano piece for cello and piano that I recently finished has to be recorded. I don't have a pianist available to play the part, so I'm having to learn it myself in preparation for recording. I'll add the cello part as an overdubbed voice. Because it's a recording I can adjust the balance to be as close to ideal as possible, but the piano part is very full with a nearly-constant stream of legato eighth note arpeggios and scales, often in both hands. You could conceivably call it a perpetual motion, except that the character is completely different from what a typical perpetual motion composition sounds like.
But because of the constant activity of the piano part, I'll have to record the cello part second, even though it's the principal melody.
Unfortunately, a good part of the piece is in D flat major, which is really not a great key for the cello. Luckily there are quite a few modulations. Apropos of your experience playing with the cellist, if the piece you played was in C major / A minor, or a key with a low number of sharps or flats, you generally get to use the open strings and the hand positions are more relaxed, with a more open sound of the instrument, but that's a generalization.