Cantilena II

This CD brings together all my works written for cello, the instrument I simply adore. And my greater joy is to have Leonardo Altino as the performer. Leonardo Altino is an exceptionally gifted cellist, whom I consider to be the greatest discovery in the current cello scene in the whole world. Sensitive artist, fit with perfect technique yet always at the service of music, Leonardo Altino is just that, the ideal interpreter for any composer. Along with Ana Lucia Altino, they make a duo of extraordinary musicianship and superior understanding of these works.
The first piece I wrote for the cello was the DESAFIO II at the request of Aldo Parisot, my good friend, the cellist, and teacher for so many generations. It was at the International Competition in Paraíba in 1968 that Aldo suggested the work, initially to be written for a group of six cellists. I went onto writing a total of fifty Desafios, virtually for all the instruments, including chamber and symphony orchestras. This DESAFIO II quickly became one of favorites among cellists, and in 2009 it was performed by all the finalists of the International Competition Carlos Prieto in Mexico. The piece is based on the idea of "poetic challenges" of the folk singers of the Northeastern Brazil, in which the singers would challenge each other in drawn-out duels by composing poems on the spot, making them more elaborate in each turn. This centuries-old tradition, which originated in the Iberian world, namely Portugal and Spain, was transformed by the Brazilian folk culture. In my DESAFIO II, I begin with a virtuosic cadenza for cello solo followed by a type of toccata or "challenge" between the piano and cello with a very strong contrapuntal undercurrent.
The PARTITA LATINA was written in 2002, by the commission of another dear friend, the great Mexican cellist Carlos Prieto, who made its world premiere in 2003 in Mexico and recorded it for the Urtext label. The work is based on the eighteenth-century idea of partitas with individual movements, but in this work, the movements interconnect through the initial idea introduced by the cello. I could also say that they are studies of musical character with the first movement (Lento-Estático) presenting the initial idea and developing it in increasingly complex forms. The second movement (Apassionatto) is a deviation from the melodic theme, written in a brief form, in which the cello part dialogues with the left hand of the pianist. The third (Scherzando) is virtuosic and sarcastic, and the fourth (Calmo) explores the variants of the opening theme leading to a type of crazed habanera. The fifth (Profundo) is extremely chromatic for both instruments yet intensely calm. The sixth (Vivo) is of virtuosic character and extreme contrast. The seventh (Grave) begins very slowly and gradually reaches a great sonorous climax.
The POEMA III is part of another series that began in 2002, and as with the Desafios, it was written for virtually all the instruments of the orchestra to be performed either with piano or a string orchestra. The idea of Poema came from a love song I wrote for my wife Maria Luiza. At the same time, I was inspired by something Picasso said; "I am a cubist painter, yes, but able to paint beautiful portraits." The POEMA III is nothing more than a simple melody, a song of positive and direct nature.
The work, TRÊS CANTOS DE IEMANJÁ, is based on my work, "Beiramar” for baritone and piano, composed in 1968. I always wanted to write this piece for cello, whose particular dramatic and cantabile features would be well displayed. I made this version in 2009 specially for a concert in Rio de Janeiro to celebrate my seventieth birthday, and the debut was given by cellist Bernardo Katz and pianist Maria Luiza Corker.
The CANTORIAS are also a case apart. In 2005 my dear friend, the great Brazilian cellist Antonio Meneses came to me with the idea of commissioning several composers to write works based on Bach’s suites for solo cello. I immediately chose one of my favorites, the suite in D minor, then wrote my CANTORIA I, which began with the initial idea of Bach and from there entered my personal world. It is as if Bach's idea bore fruit in my mind of a work with its own ways, finding its way to the "Northeastern Cantorias," hence the title of the work. Antonio Meneses premiered the work with great success in 2005 in Sao Paulo and soon after recorded it on CD.
In the same year, Carlos Prieto, commissioned a work for solo cello. I then proposed writing CANTORIA II based on the same idea of the CANTORIA I, except this time on the C major suite. While the CANTORIA I is more melodic, the CANTORIA II is extremely virtuosic and devilish. Carlos premiered it in Mexico in 2006.
Then came at last TRÊS CANTILENAS. Carlos Prieto commissioned the first two for the concert he organized in Mexico in honor of my seventy years in 2009, and I dedicated them to Carlos Prieto. And the CANTILENA III I wrote a little later also in 2009, for the concert performed by Leonardo Altino and the pianist Victor Asuncion in the Festival Virtuosi 2009, in which they presented the first world premiere of the work along with the other Cantilenas.
The fundamental idea of Cantilenas is simple; it uses the ancient form, the A - A’ of the baroque period (to which my music has so much resemblance, not in style, but in technique). In these TRÊS CANTILENAS a simple melodic idea is introduced in all its extent by the cello, with an elaborate contrapuntal texture in the piano, and then is repeated, always with profound harmonic and contrapuntal variations.

MARLOS NOBRE
Rio de Janeiro, February 2011