I think I may be done with the second movement, Adagio, of the cello sonata. I swore that I was going to get it done this weekend, and I have. At least, I have filled in the gap between what I tinkered with in July and the final four measures. I don’t know what else to do with it.
As I mentioned before, playback is problematic with this piece, since there’s a section where the cello drags behind and the piano maintains a steady beat. If you look at the score, you’ll see copious instructions to the players on now to manage that. The computer, of course, just plays it all as if it’s in perfect alignment.
I know that the asynchronous playing works because I got two students to read through it this summer. They were puzzled, if polite, and I think they thought it was too easy for them to be bothering with. No matter: what I thought I heard in my head actually works, and of course it’s easy, it’s a break for the pianist between the first and third movements, which are pretty relentless.
So here it is:
Now to finish the third movement. Not today, of course. But soon. Soon.
Already, I hear a lack in m. 13, the cello riff in E-flat major. It should be more yearningly ecstatic. So there’s that. And I truly think the ending needs to be longer. Hm.