Samuel Barber (1910-1981)
Sonata for violoncello and piano, Op. 6 (1932)
Duration: 28’

I. Allegro ma non troppo
II. Adagio – Presto – Adagio
III. Allegro appassionato

I. Allegro ma non troppo

Barber throws down the glove with the very first gesture. The cellist continually leaps upward, covering almost three octaves using intervals of a minor-sixth and augmented-fifth. The pianist answers with increasing tension, first responding with single-note leaps in each hand. The next response is made with two notes in a tight minor-second. The next response spreads the notes even further to a minor-third, and the final response is with both hands forming augmented-fourths. The shifting tension through harmonic intervals, both vertically and horizontally, is further heightened by the tessitura as the cello line climbs into a higher range. With this two-measure gesture, Barber sets in motion the drama for the whole piece.

There is drama in this piece. Barber notes after hearing the cellist Felix Salmond’s interpretation of this Sonata: “It sounds like a different work – I had forgotten I wanted it to sound that way –dramatic. And he plays with fire.” Drama is conveyed not just through harmonically induced tension but also through its pacing within time and intensity levels. This in turn paces the energy and character. The dramatic impression of a piece is largely shaped by the shifting energy of phrases or gestures.

Before discussing the idea of energy levels, an important concept in tone production needs mentioning. The ear interprets a note based on its edge-sound. The edge-sound is the front wave of energy, detached from previous sounds, that the ear discerns. Timbre, tone quality, energy and character are all packed into that split-second when the ear registers a new, articulated sound. Musicians tend to have troubles with this acoustical concept. There is usually a desire to concentrate on what you do with a note after it has been initiated. But the listener knows the disposition of a note by its edge-sound. For string players, this edge-sound is usually that moment when the bow touches and moves against the string or when the bow changes direction. Done roughly, and the tone quality will suffer. Done too smoothly, it can either be silky-smooth or make the occurrence of a note non-eventful. If anything, American schools strive to iron out the start of a bow stroke to the extent that the tone character is anonymous and invariable.

A varied character of notes and dramatic energy incorporates the manipulation this edge-sound. For string players, increasing the energy means using any or all of the following techniques: faster bow speed, a tighter, more rapid vibrato, and possibly increasing bow pressure and moving closer to the bridge. The sensation of faster energy is further conveyed by starting a note at the front of the beat, and giving an edge-sound that starts with a consonant, rather than a vowel sound. Slow energy would be the opposites: slower bow strokes, loose vibrato, moving more to the finger board, and starting the note at the back of the beat. An edge-sound initiated with a vowel sound also gives a sense of calm and slower energy.

The Barber Cello Sonata calls for players to use these concepts of edge-sound to serve the dramatic intent. At the transition in the cello part from the last note in measure 2 to the start of measure 3, molto espressivo, the high A-flat can be done with so many different characters, energy levels, and pacing. The piano is momentarily silent, so the ear can readily hear this note. So, do you make a break in the sound allowing silence beforehand? Leave the string, or just glide into the re-articulated A-flat? Pounce on the beat, or settle into it? Give this note fast energy or slow? Slow energy here would shape the opening phrase into an arrival where this moment becomes the enjoyment of a splendid victory. Fast energy would create only a temporary sense of arrival, as the striving continues.

The piano, too, can think about various energy levels to shape the drama. In measure four, for example, poco rit. Are all the notes of this chord equal in energy and strength? Remember that the high notes will have faster energy than the low, so sometimes stacking a chord exactly, all at once, will sound top-loaded and have an overall fast energy character. Allowing the top notes to sound a fraction later than the lower notes will create a slower energy. And placing the chord on the front, middle, or back of the beat will also set the level of dramatic power.

Consider measure 10, where the cello line arrives a half beat earlier than what the ear was expecting. Is this an organic outcome of the subito piano phrase? And so the energy remains slow? Literally, at the back of the beat? Or is it a sudden compression and increase in tension that compels the gesture to move into the second beat-space early? Are these two measures a change from slow to faster, or slow to slower? In the same regard, at m.13 when the piano switches to a three-note answer, instead of the two-note answer, is this triplet rhythm an early entrance with an interrupting attitude? If so, it will need an increase in energy to convey this change. By m.15 the background click track is unclear: the beginnings and ends of ideas are blurred. Does it spin and swing around rather than move forward? Decide on your dramatic intent and then use the concepts of energy to convey your ideas

This first movement can be seen as an architectural structure or a dramatic narrative, or both. As a sonata, the architecture can have exact dimensions that have no sense of being compelled by past events. Structure can do the same thing twice. But a dramatic narrative is led by what happened, therefore this must happen. Each telling of an idea may be nuanced to suit the pacing for that particular moment. Nothing happens the same way twice. An F-sharp is not the same as a G-flat. Use the structure as laid out by the sonata form as sign-posts in the dramatic narrative, rather than as a structure that delineates the flow. Pace yourself. Pace the tension, rhythm and energy.

II. Adagio – Presto – Adagio

These first ten measures provide a wonderful opportunity to experiment with energy levels and the effects of various edge-sounds. For example, the first measure of the cello line has two slurred groups of notes. So how do these slurs start? For the second group of notes, F-C, do you slide right into that slur or give the edge of the slur character and energy? I tend to think in terms of poetic meter, with phrases having combinations of stressed and non-stressed syllables. I see the first two beats as unstressed notes that lead to this third and stressed beat. If you consider this third-beat F as the first stressed beat, do not glide into it so smoothly as to obliterate the edge-sound and render its arrival as inconsequential. Especially with the word espressivo looking at you.

To bring out an expressive quality, consider the use of breath. How we gather ourselves in the brief silence between notes is very expressive. I would suggest slow energy at the beginning of the movement, with gentle vibrato that doesn’t push forward and rush the pacing. Let the second-slur F have a distinct beginning. Decide whether the edge-sound starts with a consonant or vowel. Again, ironing out the seams between notes or slurs can dehumanize a musical gesture.

Measure two, beat four, for example, the C that is tucked into the piano chord: gliding into this note with anonymity would pale the dramatic flow. Consider the notes before this as a gesture of taking a comforting breath, and then exhale on the C with slow energy; thick, full, and serene. Let the pianist use time to pace the 9-8 resolution without the cellist stepping obliviously on harmony’s toes to hurry off to the D. The D is the start of another slur and deserves articulation with intent.

Players shy away from breathing now days, yet breath, and its rhetoric, is so powerful. It is a shame that we are taught that being human is not compatible with being musical, but rather, somehow, super human technique is the road to musicality and the ability to enchant listeners. Experiment with breath and be very conscious of how you start the next edge-sound. What if you breathed between the third and fourth beats in measure 5? How does that qualify the next two eight-notes? What if you tried different pacing and energy levels for getting from beat two to three in m. 6? That D-flat! What are the adjectives for this chord? What pacing and energy would best convey the adjectives?

In the eighth measure, the eighth-rest in the cello line: how does this create drama? Is it a late and slow energy start to a phrase that should have started on the first beat, or an early anticipation of beat two? Also, m.8 with the octave leap without slurs: don’t slur, slide, glide or obliterate this interval. Give each note character. The octave is so expressive, especially with the tenth that follows. The rit. slows the temporal pacing, but what about the other types of pacing?

Note that rehearsal 10 is actually the 11th measure. I will switch at this point to using measure numbers as printed.

This scherzo-like middle section will obviously need to be coordinated in rehearsal. While practicing the rhythm and meter changes keep in mind the now familiar questions about dramatic expression. Anytime there is a shift in rhythm, 12 (4x3) to 9 (3x3) for example, keep an eye on the overall flow. What role does this shift play? Stretching? Compressing? Destabilizing? Is this a ghoulish scherzo or a humorous one?

Musicians love to play difficult rhythms rhythmically. I think the word they mean is correctly, and as written, but the end result is often a sudden burst of mechanically. It is as if we give up all musical and interpretive thoughts when the note patterns become rhythmic. The jabbing staccato phrases are gestures, too, and have a character role. Don’t grind the notes down to such sonic perfection that they lose character and dramatic presence. Set the rhythms in a click track, and then welcome in character and adjectives, internalizes these, and then let go of the click track.

In the beginning Adagio as well as in its return at the end of the movement, espressivo easily becomes something that is fervently squeezed out of every note. Remember the concept of poetic foot. Not every note is a stressed syllable. These espressivo sections too easily sound as if someone is shouting, or writing in all capital letters. Pace the tension and passion. Also, within this second movement, both players get a chance to consider how to pace silences.

III. Allegro appassionato

This movement has a lot for the pianist to consider. Let the cellist listen to the piano line and then consider how to add to and assist the pianist’s dramatic lead. For example, m. 36 the piano solo passage: it is a sudden switch from triple to duple, with the beat remaining at 80. So is it a slowing, or, a stretching of events? What about breathing in m. 39 and giving thought to the edge-sound of the last eighth note, B-natural? Yes, even on the piano. Know that the piano part is marked quasi cadenza before m.44, in the cello part. Here the two measures before 44 are without a click track: the trill blurs rhythm and pulse; add a rolled chord, and a group of 5-notes. And the B-natural to D-sharp whole note could be held at least longer than a quarter note.

Recognize that measure 89 subtly brings back ideas from the beginning movement. Measure 105, con fuoco, ma largamente; if you have made it this far with the ideas of pacing, edge-sound and energy levels, then this odd direction should only fuel your imagination even more.

Interestingly, the bar before 128 allows a poco rit. , where before, in m. 36, it is without. When the previous marking was semplice, sempre in due, it is now semplice, ma espressivo. And now also with a full ritardando and tenuto notes. Do you breathe here before the last eighth-note, E-natural, now in piano rather than forte? The trill too, is quieter, pp as if distant. Don’t be afraid of the allargando molto. This does mean slower, much, not slower, sort of. Also remember that the silences in the last seven measures are triple, not duple. As a final note, remember once again that narrative never does the same thing twice.

© 2009 Kim Diehnelt