On Friday 16th January, Guy Johnston will premiere the new Cello Concerto by Joseph Phibbs with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican in London, conducted by Clemens Schuldt.
Phibbs says about the work:
“This concerto is in five movements, the first and last scored for cello and strings only. The work opens softly with a short Invocation – a type of prayer – which leads without a break to an ebullient and at times abrasive Aubade, the cello moving from its lowest to highest range. The subdued central Elegy hones in on the celebrated lyrical qualities of the cello, before an agitated Notturno presents an unsettled, ever-shifting dialogue between the cello and orchestra, with a virtuoso cadenza featuring towards its close. A short Vocalise, adapted from a sonata Guy commissioned several years ago, ends the work on a note of resolution.
As one of the very finest cellists of his generation, I wanted to bring out Guy’s extraordinary expressive qualities as well as his dazzling technical prowess. The result was music which is often lyrical and emotionally direct sitting alongside that which is harder-edged, and at times frenetically virtuosic.”
Hear Guy and Joseph Phibbs discuss the piece on BBC Radio 3 In Tune on Tuesday 13th January, ahead of the premiere. They’ll also play an excerpt from the concerto – the Vocalise – with Joseph on piano.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002pgdz
📸 – Frances Marshall