3 Pieces for cello and piano (1913)

Modéré

Sans vitesse et à l’aise

Vite et nerveusement rythmé

The composers in the Boulanger family were Nadia’s father Ernest, who won the Prix de Rome in 1835, and her younger sister Lili who, the first woman ever to do so, won the same prize in 1913. Nadia herself was far from devoid of creative talent – she was awarded the second prize in the Prix de Rome competition in 1908 –    but she stopped writing music in the early 1920s. Having met true genius in her sister, who died at a tragically early age in 1918, she came to the conclusion that her own work was “useless, not even well made, useless!” She was being much too hard on herself of course. At the same time, however, those uncompromisingly high standards combined with keen musical and psychological insights to make her one of the greatest teachers of composition in the 20th century. Jibes about the “boulangerie”, as though all her pupils – from Copland to Piazolla – turned out the same, are ill-placed

The first two of the Three Pieces for cello and piano are arrangements of organ pieces but are so skilfully rescored – so “well made” in fact – that no one would ever suspect that they were not conceived in this duo version. Originally called “Improvisation”, the first is based on a melody that lends itself so well to the cello that it requires no more than a minimal piano accompaniment and a little counterpoint to sustain it through a central climax and a radiant ending. The second, once called “Petit canon”, retains its original texture but draws on the personality of the cello to give it expressive as well as technical interest. Beginning and ending with a gruff reference to Beethoven, the last piece is a lively scherzo with a more lyrical Spanish-sounding middle section.