17 RAPHAËL JOUAN ∙ ORCHESTRE NATIONAL DE METZ GRAND EST ∙ DAVID REILAND It is also a work that lends itself to great lyrical outpourings… Of course. And there are marvellous passages where the cello opens up over the orchestra with as much passion as tenderness. It is a score full of contrasts and particularly moving, for the composer expresses in it, very personal feelings. This can be seen as a tribute to his sister-in-law Josefina Čermáková (1838– 1895), whom he had loved in his youth and whom illness carried off while he was completing the concerto. Whereas its finale was originally rather heroic, Dvořák ultimately chose to modify it by adding a lied1 which was a particular favourite of the young woman.. This is what gives a nostalgic, almost strange touch to the final bars of the work. I am always overwhelmed with emotion when I play this passage, which evokes the loss of a loved one and can resonate with our own sorrows. 1. “Lasst mich allein” [Let me be alone], Op. 82 No. 1, composed in 1887, the first of his Vier Lieder (Four Songs) by Dvořák to words by Ottilie Malybrok-Stieler (1834–1916).
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