The Sixty-third Season of

The William Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin

Concerts

National Gallery of Art

2,514th Concert

Jiri Barta, violoncellist

Music Department

National Gallery of Art

Sixth Street and Constitution Avenue nw

Washington, dc

Mailing address

2000b South Club Drive

Landover, md 20785

5 December 2004

Sunday Evening, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Admission free

mvw.nga.gov
For the convenience of concertgoers

the Garden Cafe remains open until 6:oo pm.

The use of cameras or recording equipment during the

performance is not allowed. Please be sure that cell phones,

pagers, and other electronic devices are turned off.

Please note that concerts now begin at 6:30 pm.

Late entry or reentry after 6:30 pm is not permitted.

2,514th Concert

5 December 2004, 6:30 pm

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Suite No. 4 in E-flat Major for Violoncello Solo, bwv ioio (c. 1720)

Prelude

Allemande

Courante

Sarabande

Bouree 1, n

Gigue

Zoltan Kodaly (1882-1967)

Sonata for Violoncello Solo, Op. 8 (1915)

Allegro maestoso ma appassionato

Adagio

Allegro molto vivace

Intermission

Bach

Suite No. 5 in C Minor, bwv 1008 (c. 1720)

Prelude

Allemande

Courante

Sarabande

Gavotte 1 —Gavotte 11—Gavotte 1

Gigue
The Musician

Cellist Jiri Barta is one ofthe Czech Republic’s most distinguished and 

highly acclaimed musicians. He studied with three great cellists ofthe

twentieth century, Josef Chuchro and Michael Skampa in Prague and

Boris Pergamenchikov in Cologne, and shortly thereafter he came to international attention as the winner ofseveral awards, including the prestigious

Rostropovich-Hammer Award at the 1991 Los Angeles Competition.

Barta has performed concertos with the Czech Philharmonic, the Berlin

Symphony, and the Prague Symphony, and has appeared in recital at

London’s Wigmore Hall, the Edinburgh Festival, and major concert venues 

in Paris, Tokyo, and Prague. The Czech recording company Supraphon has 

recorded Barta’s performance ofthe two concertos of Dmitri Shostakovich

with the Czech Philharmonic, conducted by Shostakovich’s son, Maxim.

Barta has also recorded the complete cello suites of Bach, and his CD

ofmusic by Rachmaninoff, Saint-Saens, Richard Strauss, and Dvorak was

voted the best Czech CD of 1999.

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Program Notes

Johann Sebastian Bach’s six suites for violoncello solo were composed at

a time when his creative focus was directed almost exclusively toward the

composition ofinstrumental music. Between 1717 and 1723 he served as

kapellmeister and director of chamber music at the court of Duke Leopold

of Anhalt-Coethen, an informed music lover. The duke was a follower

of Calvinist ideology and therefore demanded no sacred vocal music from

Bach, whose skill as a composer of cantatas and motets was already well

developed. The duke did, however, provide his court composer with 

an orchestra of highly skilled instrumentalists, who were the stimulus for

Bach’s remarkable works for solo violin and cello as well as numerous

concerti for solo instruments and orchestra.

The cello suites belong to a tradition that began in the late 1600s, when

the first works for unaccompanied cello were composed by Domenico 

Gabrielli and Domenico Galli, both cellists in the Cappella di San Petronio 

in Bologna. Bach’s solo suites are the first such works composed by a noncellist, but they reveal a deep appreciation on the composer’s part for the

technical and expressive potential ofthe instrument. A fine violinist in his

own right, Bach was also aware ofsome ofthe “trade secrets” ofthe string 

players’ world. He called upon the performers to activate more than one

string at once, arpeggiate large chords, and continue melodic lines across

numerous rests. The resulting multiple linear strands made possible the 

presentation offugues, canons, and other forms of contrapuntal imitation

on an instrument with only four strings.

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The year 1915, in which Zoltan Kodaly composed his only solo sonata 

for the cello, was a difficult and often tragic one for every European, and

the composer was no exception. He had joined a voluntary militia with the

mission of defending the monuments of Budapest, which committed him

to many long and uncomfortable outdoor vigils, but he was still expected to

fulfill his teaching duties at the Budapest Music Academy. To make matters

worse, none of his works had been published since 1910.

In spite ofthe discouraging circumstances, Kodaly poured himselfinto 

the process of creating this sonata, producing one ofthe most challenging 

works in the cello solo repertoire. It calls for an extended range of pitches, 

from the B below the bass staffto the B five ledger lines above the treble 

staff, left-hand pizzicatti, and unusual bowings. The player has to tune

the two lowest strings ofthe cello one-half step lower than is common

(scordatura tuning), which means that alternative fingerings are required.

The work is ofmonumental length (thirty-three minutes) and requires prolonged periods ofsustained intensity. Kodaly draws heavily on Hungarian

folk music for the sonata, as he did in most of his works. The folk element

is most noticeably present in the third movement, in which the steady

rhythm of a vigorous dance is constantly interrupted by passages of motivic

growth and mysterious development.

Program notes by Stephen Ackert

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