Solo

Throughout the years Nuala McKenna has developed a deep love for the cello solo repertoire which has taught her many things about herself. This debut album is a culmination of the process of connecting with that music. For this album she has chosen three works which share one great attribute: expression to the limit! Zoltán Kodály played the violin, viola and piano, but his favorite instrument was undoubtedly the cello, thus he created one of the major works of the cello repertoire; Sonata in B minor for solo cello.

He requires the performer to transcend his technical skills. It's a tribute to Hungarian folk music and conjures contrasts of wide Hungarian landscapes as well as dancing in a rural pub. György Ligeti's music extends the compositional style to which his fellow Hungarian composers were confined, also experimenting with electronic music which one can feel in Sonata for solo cello.

Benjamin Britten's Cello Suite No. 1 is the first of three which were a result of the friendship between him and the cellist Mstislav Rostropovich.