Pequeños solistas (Little soloists), Pieces for cello and string orchestra

Georg Goltermann (1824-1898). La foi (La fe)

Ferdinando Ronchini (1865-1938). Mazurka

Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924). Siciliana

Benedetto Marcello (1686-1739). Sonata (Mi menor)

During my years as a cello student in different conservatories, I had the opportunity, and the obligation, to hold a quarterly public audition.

I have to admit that having played accompanied by an orchestra would have been a great experience, but there are several problems for a student:

The repertoire for solo instrument and orchestra is usually written for true soloists, trained musicians with a high technical and interpretative level who can face the difficulties of the pieces.
The orchestral parts are for a symphony orchestra with a large staff; It must not be forgotten that the vast majority of these concertos were written during the romantic period, so it is difficult for a conservatory student orchestra to perform them with solvency.
If we then think of a professional orchestra, it doesn’t make sense for the soloist to be a child who plays as part of his formation, without any further pretensions.

Putting an end to the problems listed is the reason that has prompted me to undertake this work, raising it under two fundamental premises:

The soloist must be a student of a good level, but not necessarily a prodigy. For this reason I have chosen to orchestrate, pieces that in the didactic programming are found at the end of the elementary education or at the beginning of the professional ones, nothing of great works.
The orchestral part can be interpreted by your classmates with the center’s orchestra. To do this, I have simplified parts and I have taken into account the technical content of each of the voices.

Ana Valero Lobato