Cello Concerto (1/4)

Second movement: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLQDSM1Phyw John Towner Williams' cello concerto, 1st movement "Theme and Cadenza" Le premier mouvement du concerto pour violoncelle de John Towner Williams theme and cadenza. Solist/soliste : Yo-Yo Ma Performed by/interprété par the Los Angeles recording arts orchestra Conducted by/dirigé par John Williams. About the concerto : "My cello concerto resulted from a suggestion by Seiji Ozawa that I write a piece for cello and orchestra expressly with Yo-Yo Ma in mind. Discussions on this project developed and the Boston Symphony agreed to commission the work, requesting that it be premiered at the opening of new Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood, Massachusetts, during the summer of 1994. I began work at the end of 1993, and I celebratory concert that marked the dedication of Tanglewood's exciting new venue. I had known Yo-Yo Ma for quite a few years before this event. Together we had performed concertos of Elgar, Dvorak, and Haydn among others, and on several occasions I had accompanied him at the piano. Over the years we've become close friends, and I looked forward to writing for him with great pleasure. Given the broad technical and expressive arsenal available in Yo-Yo's work, planning the concerto was a joy. I decided to have four fairly extensive movements that would offer as much variety and contrast as possible, but that could be played continuously and without interruption." - John Williams About the first movement : "The first movement, Theme and Cadenza, after an opening salvo of brass, immediately casts the cello in a kind of heros' role, making it unquestioned center of attention. It's a movement that attempts to put the cello on display in the time-honored sense of "concerto", and as the hero's theme is developed, it "morphs" into a cadenza in woch I tried to create an opportunity for exploration of the theme that would be both ruminative and virtuosic.