Two Toccatas and a Dialogue

Description

Cello, Piano — While I was thinking about what sort of piece to write for Min and Mark,nature was acting up in a typically “contemporary” way. There was a severestorm followed by beautifully calm weather. Then came a second storm,even more severe than the first.I felt that I was living through a world situation that mirrored these naturalphenomena. After the Second World War, there were a series of smallerwars in the Far East, as well as in the Balkans and elsewhere. They werefierce, but relatively brief and geographically confined. Then came a trulycalm period, which I certainly hoped would last.However, since 2020 we have had the horrible war in Ukraine, and since2023, the terrible fighting in Israel and Gaza. These developments in natureand work unrest have affected me greatly, and I wanted to express thesefeelings in music if I could.To me, the toccata has always represented a stormy situation, and thereare two in this piece, with the second being more intense than the first. Adialogue offers relief and calm. On the genesis of this turbulently expressive work for cello and piano, composer Samuel Adler writes, “While I was thinking about what sort of piece to write for Min and Mark, nature was acting up in a typically ‘contemporary’ way. There was a severe storm followed by beautifully calm weather. Then came a second storm, even more severe than the first. I felt that I was living through a world situation that mirrored these natural phenomena.” Adler fled Nazi Germany in his youth, and was disheartened to see a period of relative peace give way to renewed conflict in recent years. “These developments in nature and world unrest have affected me greatly, and I wanted to express these feelings in music if I could. To me, the toccata has always represented a stormy situation, and there are two in this piece, with the second being more intense than the first. A dialogue offers relief and calm.” For advanced performers.

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