The 12 Cellists and Anna Prohaska

“Violoncellos, in a group of eight or ten,” Hector Berlioz wrote in his treatise on instrumentation, “are essentially melodic instruments; their tone on the upper strings is one of the most expressive in the entire orchestra. Nothing is so melancholy, nothing is so suitable to rendering tender, languishing melodies, as a mass of violoncellos playing unisono on the highest string.” It may come as no surprise that the idea of a grouping of the warm and sonorous cello sound comes from two of the most significant cellists of the 20th century (namely Pablo Casals and Julius Klengel). The 12 Cellists of the Berliner Philharmoniker adopted this idea and have achieved an overwhelming response; by now they’ve been playing for decades from one success to the next.

In their 2015 concert in the Philharmonie, together with soprano Anna Prohaska and Laura Fernández and Daniel Orellana (dance), the musicians take on an atmospheric South America programme which couldn’t fail to include music by Heitor Villa-Lobos – first and foremost the Bachianas brasileiras, in which Bachian and Brazilian forms are ingeniously fused together. Of course, works by tango legend Astor Piazzolla are represented; he expanded the South American dance to include moments from modern compositional techniques inspired by Stravinsky, Bartók and jazz. In addition to more tangos by Horacio Salgán, the programme also includes compositions by Gabriel Fauré – in skilful arrangements for 12 violoncelli.

The 12 Cellists of the Berliner Philharmoniker

Anna Prohaska