Nuala McKenna & Antonii Baryshevskyi

Cello & Piano Recital

Battling cancer, Debussy wrote: “However hard I try, I cannot regard the sadness of my existence with biting detachment. Sometimes my days are dark, dull, and soundless like those of a hero from Edgar Allan Poe; and my soul is as romantic as a Chopin ballad.”

Debussy intended to compose six sonatas for various instruments, but only three were completed before his death: for flute, viola, and harp; for violin and piano; and for cello and piano.

His goal was to create a distinctly French work, in which he drew on elements of the French Baroque, and he even considered the title Pierrot angry with the Moon, a reference to a poem by Albert Giraud.

Dolcissima was composed in 2015 and premiered in Kyiv that same year by Antonii. He collaborates regularly with Shalygin, who is now based in the Netherlands, and Nuala was delighted with Antonii's proposal to include this piece in the program.

After performing one of Schumann's three Fantasiestücke last year, Nuala and Antonii soon decided to play the other two as well. Schumann wrote these pieces (originally for clarinet and piano) in the countryside in 1849. In that year, Dresden was threatened by violent political unrest, forcing Schumann and Clara to flee the city.

“I write a little and cross out a lot,” Chopin confessed to his sister while composing his last great work, the Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 65, written in Paris between 1845 and 1846. “Sometimes I am satisfied with it, sometimes not. I throw it in a corner and pick it up again later.” No work gave him more trouble, as is evident from the extensive sketches that have been preserved. It was the last composition published during his lifetime, written while his health was gradually declining.

Claude Debussy (1862-1918) Cello Sonata in D minor Maxim Shalygin (1985) Dolcissima Robert Schumann 3 Fantasiestücke ⁃ Pause - Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) Cello Sonata in G Minor, Op.65

Nuala McKenna, Cello Antonii Baryshevskyi, Piano