Celebrating Zoltan Kodaly’s Sonata for Solo Cello, Hannah Addario-Berry

Tuesday October 13, 2015 at 8 pm

$20/$10 students/arts workers

One hundred years ago, Zoltán Kodály composed his Sonata for Solo Cello, one of the most significant works written for the instrument since the Bach Suites.

In celebration of this centenary, cellist Hannah Addario-Berry has created a program that showcases the 1915 Sonata with companion works created by the dynamic young composers Lisa Renée Coons, Brent Miller, Eric KM Clark, and Alisa Rose. The program will be presented in a solo concert tour around the United States and Canada. At the end of the tour, the program will be recorded in a new solo cello CD, titled Scordatura.

The Sonata

Zoltán Kodály is one of the most revered composers in the history of Hungary. Together with his friend and countryman Béla Bartok, he helped pioneer the field of ethnomusicology, traveling to remote villages and recording their songs as early as 1905. In addition, Kodály made significant contributions to the field of music education, to the extent of developing a unique approach known as the Kodály Method, still in use today. In 1915 he composed his Sonata for Solo Cello, Opus 8, and predicted that “In 25 years no cellist will be accepted who has not played it.” Indeed, by 1956 the Sonata had become an obligatory piece for the Casals Competition in Mexico City.

The work poses immense technical and musical challenges to the performer, using the extreme extent of the cello’s range and changing the tuning of the lower strings to deepen the tone. This deliberately altered tuning, or “scordatura”, enables rich harmonic possibilities. The piece is at times dramatic, melancholy, exuberant, and haunting. The cello often doubles as soloist and orchestra, bowing long melodic lines while simultaneously plucking rhythmical accompaniments. These technicalities are not an end unto themselves, simply the means for carrying the listener on a musical journey to the heart of historical Hungary.

The Composers

Four talented composers have created short solo cello pieces inspired by the 1915 Kodály Sonata. The new works are scored for the same altered tuning used by Kodály. Collectively, these pieces form a complete and eclectic solo recital, whose performances by cellist Hannah Addario-Berry promise richly expanded experiences for classical and new music audiences.