# Work of the Week #1, 10 August 2017 - Cello Suite No. 1 by Benjamin Britten



## mathisdermaler (Mar 29, 2017)

*Out of 8 submissions, Omicron9's submission of Benjamin Britten's Cello Suite No. 1 was randomly selected as the first "Work of the Week," for the week of 10 August 2017. *






Comments on the work by Omicron9:
_The cello suites by Benjamin Britten (Opp. 72, 80, and 87) are a series of three compositions for solo cello, dedicated to Mstislav Rostropovich. The suites were the first original solo instrumental music that Britten wrote for and dedicated to Rostropovich, but Britten had earlier composed a cadenza for Joseph Haydn's Cello Concerto in C major, for Rostropovich, in 1964. Rostropovich gave the first performances of each work, and recorded Suites Nos 1 and 2 commercially.
Britten wrote the First Suite at the end of 1964. The premiere was at the Aldeburgh Festival[2] on 27 June 1965.[3] The suite is in nine movements, played without pause._ 
(originally from Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cello_suites_(Britten))

How do you feel about this piece? Do you like it, dislike it, why?
What would you recommend to someone who likes this piece?

*To submit a piece to be selected as the Work of the Week in the future, please PM me a submission in the following format:
*
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*Your submission will be added to a database containing from which I will randomly choose one piece each week. You may submit one piece each week and may submit the same piece multiple times to increase its likelihood of being chosen. Do not submit a piece that is ubiquitous, try to be original. Only submit pieces under one hour in length.
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## Tchaikov6 (Mar 30, 2016)

It took a little getting used to the different style, but I ended up very much liking it. Every movement was fresh and original, with those little "cantos" in between movements. The "marcia" movement used the cello in quite a brilliant way, and the Serenata was delightful as well. Very cool piece!


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## wolkaaa (Feb 12, 2017)

I don't understand the sense of this. If you choose a work arbitrarily and intransparent by yourself, you don't need us. It absolutely doesn't represent the TC community. What if we use a vote system? For instance, a work must reach 10 votes to become the work of the week. If at the end of a week no work reached 10 votes, we choose the work with the most votes. 
Example: "Britten's First Suite for Cello +" (submitter), then "Britten's First Suite for Cello 2+", then "Britten's First Suite for Cello 3+", and so on.


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## Tchaikov6 (Mar 30, 2016)

wolkaaa said:


> I don't understand the sense of this. If you choose a work arbitrarily and intransparent by yourself, you don't need us. It absolutely doesn't represent the TC community. What if we use a vote system? For instance, a work must reach 10 votes to become the work of the week. If at the end of a week no work reached 10 votes, we choose the work with the most votes.
> Example: "Britten's First Suite for Cello +" (submitter), then "Britten's First Suite for Cello 2+", then "Britten's First Suite for Cello 3+", and so on.


Yes, that's a good point, but I feel that this work of the week is so people can get to know pieces. So when a more popular and well-liked piece wins (which it would obviously) then those other unkown pieces would never be the "work of the week." That's a fun idea, though!


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## wolkaaa (Feb 12, 2017)

Tchaikov6 said:


> Yes, that's a good point, but I feel that this work of the week is so people can get to know pieces. So when a more popular and well-liked piece wins (which it would obviously) then those other unkown pieces would never be the "work of the week." That's a fun idea, though!


That's also a good point... We can establish a rule: If you are familiar with a work - DO NOT vote for it. Maybe except you know that a work isn't well-known.


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## Eschbeg (Jul 25, 2012)

I'm fine with the work of the week being chosen randomly from a pool of user-recommended works. Choosing the work by popular vote would effectively turn these threads into yet another poll, and I'm not sure we need more of those. One compromise, though, would be to do it NBA draft style: the work of the week is still chosen randomly from a pool of user-recommended works, but if more than one user recommends the same work then that work gets more entries in the pool. So there is voting, in a sense, that can increase the chances of a work getting chosen, but it still gives a fighting chance to works or composers that are not well known enough to be vote-magnets.

Anyway, as for the Britten suite: fascinating piece. There is a video on YouTube that features the score, if anyone is interested. I'm really digging the fugue. Not only does the fugue theme get inverted (at about 3:22 of the above video, not the one I linked to), but so does the second episode (compare 3:41 and 3:53).


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## Tchaikov6 (Mar 30, 2016)

Eschbeg said:


> I'm fine with the work of the week being chosen randomly from a pool of user-recommended works. Choosing the work by popular vote would effectively turn these threads into yet another poll, and I'm not sure we need more of those. One compromise, though, would be to do it NBA draft style: the work of the week is still chosen randomly from a pool of user-recommended works, but if more than one user recommends the same work then that work gets more entries in the pool. So there is voting, in a sense, that can increase the chances of a work getting chosen, but it still gives a fighting chance to works or composers that are not well known enough to be vote-magnets.
> 
> Anyway, as for the Britten suite: fascinating piece. *There is a video on YouTube that features the score, if anyone is interested.* I'm really digging the fugue. Not only does the fugue theme get inverted (at about 3:22 of the above video, not the one I linked to), but so does the second episode (compare 3:41 and 3:53).


Thank you! This is great, I love following along with the score when I'm listening to new music.


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## wolkaaa (Feb 12, 2017)

New idea: What about a rotating system with decision makers? Everybody who is interested comes into a list and every week somebody else decide which work to choose.


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## Omicron9 (Oct 13, 2016)

(This was intended as a reply to wolkaaa's post)
Perhaps. Then again, there is a thread asking for TCers to submit a piece for the work of the week. So in that regard, it does represent the TC community, as that is precisely where the works for the work of the week originate.


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## wolkaaa (Feb 12, 2017)

Omicron9 said:


> (This was intended as a reply to wolkaaa's post)
> Perhaps. Then again, there is a thread asking for TCers to submit a piece for the work of the week. So in that regard, it does represent the TC community, as that is precisely where the works for the work of the week originate.


Not if only one person decides which works to choose. It's like an one-man jury.


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## Eschbeg (Jul 25, 2012)

Just finished listening to the second half of this piece. The sustained D throughout the entire Bordonne is a nice touch, and the interpolation of the Canto Primo theme into the final Moto Perpetuo movement works quite well. I'm definitely going to add this piece into my current listening rotation for the next few weeks. So far, the Work of the Week is 1 for 1 with me!


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## Omicron9 (Oct 13, 2016)

Eschbeg said:


> Just finished listening to the second half of this piece. The sustained D throughout the entire Bordonne is a nice touch, and the interpolation of the Canto Primo theme into the final Moto Perpetuo movement works quite well. I'm definitely going to add this piece into my current listening rotation for the next few weeks. So far, the Work of the Week is 1 for 1 with me!


Excellent. If you liked this, be sure to also listen to the nos. 2 and 3 of Britten's solo cello suites.

-09


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