“While the list of pieces that appear in cello-piano recitals is incredibly short – the same ten pieces keep circulating in different order – we cellists actually have a very large repertoire”, he says. “Orchestras don't program much more than ten concertos and apart the Bach Suites there are maybe five pieces that make their way to concert programs.”
So instead of Schubert's Arpeggione Sonata, one could happily listen to Louise Farrenc's Sonata op. 46, or Shostakovich's first cello concerto could be replaced by Boris Tishchenko's… The list, with its diverse suggestions, is only a starting point, as “in place of the maybe 15 reasonably well known concertos, for example, one can easily find 200 unknown ones.” And works by Anssi Karttunen’s composer friends, such as Henri Dutilleux, Betsy Jolas, Magnus Lindberg, Kaija Saariaho and Pascal Dusapin, don’t even appear on the list.
Of course, the cellist’s aim here is not to wipe out the well-known masterpieces from the concert programs altogether. “But they could be given a little rest while the others are given a chance. Imagine how great it would be to come back to the Schubert Arpeggione sonata after a ten-year pause. I stopped playing the Shostakovich 1st Concerto for 34 years and I can’t describe how fresh it felt when I played it again.”
Find Anssi Karttunen‘s complete "Instead List“ here.
