Day 2

Welcome to Day 2!
Short Video today with simple homework.
Tomorrow we get more into the thick of things :)

Downloads: Nothing Today, just schedule tomorrow’s practice right now.

Today’s Recommended Listening:

The Swan was written as a part of a piece for full orchestra, the Carnival of Animals. The Swan was later featured in Anne Pavlova’s ballet and has been associated with ballet ever since.

This is a Showpiece - a small work featuring the Cello with a Piano accompanying (supporting). The two instruments are not considered equal here, instead the cellist is the star and the pianist could be any old whoever ;)

In this case, though, the pianist is Michael Tilson Thomas - the protege of Leonard Bernstein - who would soon become the legendary conductor of the San Francisco Symphony.

The cellist isn’t too shabby either: Steven Isserlis is a major soloist who has had countless fantastic works of music written for him.

If you’re interested in more works by Saint-Saens, he also wrote two Cello Sonatas and two Cello Concertos, plus a number of additional Showpieces. Steven Isserlis recorded the complete works.

As a side note, in the Cellosophy Method, we encounter The Swan and Saint-Saens’ Allegro Appassionato in Volume Four, and the whole method was designed to lead up to his Cello Concerto #1 in Volume Six.

See you tomorrow!
—Eric