Cellist Nuala McKenna and pianist Antonii Baryshevskyi met at Splendor last year and promptly decided to create a special evening dedicated to works for cello and piano. Their program brings together three late works by Claude Debussy, Robert Schumann, and Frédéric Chopin, alongside a contemporary composition by Ukrainian-born composer Maxim Shalygin.

Battling cancer, Debussy wrote: “Try as I may, I can’t regard the sadness of my existence with caustic 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 Ballade.” 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 aim was to create a distinctly French work, drawing 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 has frequently collaborated with Shalygin, who is now based in the Netherlands, and Nuala was delighted about Antonii’s suggestion to include this piece in the program.

After performing one of Schumann’s three Fantasiestücke last year Nuala and Antonii immediately resolved to play the remaining two as well. Schumann wrote the pieces (originally for clarinet and piano) in the countryside in 1849. During 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 final major work, the Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 65, written in Paris between 1845 and 1846. “Sometimes I am pleased with it, sometimes not. I throw it into a corner and then pick it up again.” No work caused him more difficulty, as evidenced by the extensive sketches that survive. It was the last composition published during his lifetime, written as his health steadily declined.

Program:

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