Violoncels / Cellos / Violonchelos
Orchestra - Sheet Music

Cello orchestra

SKU: BO.BC0004

Composed by P. Casals. Published by Editorial de Musica Boileau (BO.BC0004).

An ensemble like the cello orchestra is unprecedented in the history of instrumentation. We know that the formation of orchestras arose out of the desire to work together on the premise of a balance of parts between the four bowed string instruments, the family made up of violin, viola, cello and double bass which had already played a prominent role in early chamber ensembles such as the concerto grosso. The later expansion of the orchestra with woodwind and brass instruments sought a better distribution of the range of timbric colours, a range which called for compositions for this kind of ensemble, but at no point was an orchestra or chamber ensemble made up of different instruments of the same musical colour imagined.

The twentieth century, with its unabated research into new sound organisations and new timbric effects, explored the possibilities of very diverse groupings made up of both analogue and electro-acoustic instruments. The closest existing formation to the cello orchestra is the saxophone ensemble, which is made up of seven members of the saxophone family (sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, bass and double bass) and, in this case, allows a certain range of tessitura and tuning within the bounds of a sound produced via what is essentially the same mechanism: the vibration of a channel of air.

The cello orchestra is therefore a completely original grouping which one ought to associate closely with the creative and interpretative work of Pau Casals. A player, composer and by now well-established conductor, it was he who, in the nineteen twenties, conceived of the eight cello formation, for which he composed his Sardana para orquesta de violonchelos (Sardana for cello orchestra) (c. 1925). Other similar formations have appeared in the wake of the cello orchestra, for the most part made up of groups of pedagogical affinity. The work required by these three pieces for cello orchestra has much to do with the concept of the orchestral or chamber ensemble, in which we have, in some pieces more obviously than in others, lead roles on the one hand and support harmony and counterpoint roles on the other.