My favorite part of this composition is variation G for cello. This piece is highly reminiscent of the music accompanying the dying swan in Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake. Swan Lake’s dying swan scene was itself influenced by Le Cygne (The Swan), the 13th and penultimate part of Camille Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals—a part also written and performed by a cello.
Hearing a cello, I imagine a vessel from which sound emerges under the influence of physical effort, perhaps from friction (like the sound from a seashell). Although the instrument’s body is made of wood, the sound is not muffled to me. This may be because the strings are metal and create a sufficiently resonant and distinctive sound, which is softened by the instrument’s wooden body. The sound vibrations also make me imagine a bow sliding along the strings with varying degrees of pressure for the duration of contact. In my opinion, the instrument cannot be tiny (like a violin) because it produces such a juicy, stringy, molasses-thick and relatively low timbre, which is not typical for small-bowed instruments. Such a rich, room-filling sound creates the illusion of a wave vibrating in the air, comparable to when you look at a hot desert horizon and sees the air tremble.
This instrument is not designed for lively, sparkling parts. Rather, cello music is melancholy, mature, deliberate, and somewhere restrained. Cello describes human emotions in moments of calmness and reflection, acceptance and obedience to fate. For example, the last dance of a dying swan—so emotional and tragic, but not hysterical and tragic. The swan remains upright and noble, without loss of dignity. The cello’s sound is so expressive to me that it seems you can taste it. I would compare the sound of a cello to a good red wine—with woody notes, the scent of resin, cinnamon, and cardamom. And according to the sense of touch, the cello’s sound should be like cashmere or a chinchilla fur coat: material that envelops the body, making you want to drown in it. The cello can convey the full range of human emotions.
In variation G for cello, the cello follows the violas, continuing the mysterious theme. From violin to cello, the melody seems to go through maturation stages, from an energetic young violin, to a more meaningful, but still boisterous energy, to a stable, reflective, and meaningful cello, as if arriving at a summit for meditation. The cello represents an organic step in the transition from high-sounding, frisky-sounding instruments to a grave and grumpy double bass. There is something inexplicable about the cello. Its sound excites the soul and ignites inexplicable emotions, attracting listeners who, upon hearing the voice of the cello, can instantly and emotionally invest themselves in the entire piece of music.
