STEVEN ISSERLIS: SCHUMANN CELLO CONCERTO

Messages from beyond…

Having recently given classes in many different countries, to students of varying stages in
their development, I have been struck by one general tendency (albeit in different degrees,
of course): a failure to take on board the messages left to us by composers. Hmm…maybe
that’s a rather negative way to start, especially considering how many remarkable talents
and wonderfully fresh young minds I’ve encountered; but it is true that many of the students
I’ve taught, having played a work from memory, have failed to answer some of the simplest
questions about the composer’s markings. And that means that they have not truly
memorised – or thought about – the work in question.
Of course, slavishly and unthinkingly following the markings in the score is not the answer
to anything: each composer, each piece, has their own language, which has to be
interpreted and understood. But we have to listen to what they’re saying to us through their
markings. Practising the Schumann cello concerto, for instance – as I am at the moment, or
should be, except that I’m writing this – I’m struck every time by how subtle but telling his
messages are. Of course, one has first of all to get hold of a good edition that contains
these messages, unadulterated by editors. Having done that (and believing that the
articulation in these editions – which are taken from the manuscript – are all from
Schumann, and not from a cellist; I certainly do believe that – they’re far too impractical to
be the work of a player!) one has to examine them carefully, and to keep re-examining
them every time one plays the work.
The first indications of interest come before the cello has entered. The tempo indication
‘nicht zu schnell’ (not too fast) is countered (to most minds, at least) by a metronome mark
which does seem to be too fast: quarter-note = 130. It’s a curious choice, since 130 does
not even appear on most pre-digital metronomes, which go straight from 126 to 132. In fact,
130 was a compromise between Schumann, who wanted an even faster marking, and the
rather idiotic cellist with whom he corresponded about the concerto, who wanted 92! For
me, 130 really is too fast to bring out the poetry of the music in a relaxed, breathing way;
but one cannot ignore the message of that marking. The movement is so often played as a
slow movement; and from that metronome indication alone (let alone the countless other
ways in which Schumann indicates the flow of the tempo) one can tell that that is wrong.
The other interesting ‘message’ in those first four bars is the slur over the woodwind
phrase. How often that is ignored – but the shape that it gives the phrase is essential. Also,
conductors occasionally want to take those first three bars at a slow tempo, speeding up at
the violin figure in bar 4. For me, that makes no sense, since the cello when it enters takes
up that same woodwind phrase; if it’s played at a completely different speed, the
connection is lost.
Again, there’s a ‘message’ about tempo in the violin figure starting at bar 4, and the
syncopated cello line from bar 5. These imply both flow and tension; a good way to choose
a natural tempo is to listen to these parts without the solo line. Then, when the solo cello
enters, there is an interesting message within the first two bars. They are tied together by a
slur – and yet there is an accent on the second note, the A. What can that accent mean? It
is obviously not a heavy one, because if it were, there would be a change of bow. Could it
be merely an invitation to vibrate that note? Very possible. Or is it an expressive lean? Or
merely a sense of reaching the tonic? Or…? Here is where each player’s interpretation will
differ, which is as it should be - so long as the accent is not completely ignored. (It is also
an interesting indication of what such an accent can mean to Schumann – as is the later fp
in the upper strings and bassoons at the beginning of the gentle second subject, in what it
implies about his use of fp.) One can take that slur over two bars as a bowing, or not – I
find that for me it constricts the sound too much; but then one has to disguise the change of
bow, so that the slur is still felt in the phrasing. All the bowings in this first phrase are
fascinating, in fact – the notes he binds together, the ones he separates. Again, one does
not have to take them as literal bowings – despite the fact that he played the cello in his
youth, Schumann is obviously not thinking in practical terms here; but one has to consider
the implications to the phrasing.
And so on, throughout the work – he is constantly communicating to us through his
hierarchy of accents (what’s the difference between the ‘hat’ at bar 13, for instance, and an
sf? Could it be that the ‘hat’ tells us to hold through the note?) , his bowing/phrasing marks,
his wonderfully precise use of rhythms, and so on. Messages! And the strange thing is that
the more one studies the score, the more messages one will find. The interpreter’s job is
almost like that of a detective – except that one is not investigating the scene of a crime,
but exploring signs beckoning us towards the magical world of Schumann... 1

1
ISSERLIS, Steven. Messages from beyond. Facebook 03/ 05/ 2015.
https://www.facebook.com/191956057519364/photos/messages-from-beyondhaving-recently-given-
classes-in-many-different-countries-to/844836085564688/. Consultado: 13/10/2019.