Daniel Perlongo

Cello and Piano

Composer's Note:
"Serenade -- of moonless nights with a last warm wind that hovers late and tender before winter's chill," for cello and piano, was commissioned by and written for Linda Jennings. The title came from my reading of Rilke's "Book of Hours," and refers to a singing lyricism, which is at the heart of the music's inspiration.
A music that sings in phrases, periods and sections, and a musical narrative that unfolds with three different ideas interweaving. An andante (A) that moves with a strolling lilt, an expressive cantabile (B) with a cello and piano dialogue and its progressing development, and an almost whimsical but nuanced dance-like fast tempo (C) where the cello pizzicato leads to a punctuated and celebratory conclusion.
A diagram of the interweaving ideas, A B A C B C demonstrates how the B sections serve to unify, with their singing and developing lines, two smaller three-part structures.