Electric Cello

We went to a CBSO concert this evening at Birmingham Symphony Hall. It opened with an enjoyable piece called Huapango by the Mexican composer José Pablo Moncayo, and it ended with one of our favourites, excerpts from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet Suites.

Sandwiched between these was a very interesting work by contemporary Mexican composer Enrico Chapela. The piece was called MAGNETAR and is a concerto for electric cello and orchestra. It was composed in 2011 and this was its European premiere.

I was more than a little concerned when I read the programme notes before the concert.

Here are a few choice quotes:
"the first movement comes from and goes back to cosmic noise"

"the third movement bursts from nowhere into a full distorted e-cello that leads into a brutal riff"

"the cello wailed and wa-wa-ed and did things that an electric guitar can do"

After reading this I was fully prepared for an appalling cacophony, but I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't all great but on the whole I rather enjoyed it, especially a section in the middle movement which was really jazzy.

The photo shows the soloist Johannes Moser with CBSO lead cellist Eduardo Vassallo and the composer taking applause at the end of the performance.