The principal cellist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Blaise Déjardin (b. 1984), has an idea! He wrote a work for cello ensemble that calls on all the things both a cellist and the BSO might do. The work was commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra for the opening night of BSO 2012 and was a tremendous hit.

Blaise Déjardin

His Aquarela do Violoncelo, written for 12 cellos, will call on all parts of your musical imagination to figure out what’s being played. Of note is that the opening tempo marking is ‘Allegro Cellissimo’!

The cello, the third largest of the standard string instruments (violin, viola, cello, double bass) brings a particularly rich sound to any ensemble. Composers will often use the cello to underscore passages in the upper strings, to add drama, or just fill out the sound. There’s a lot of music that has specific parts for cello, and they can be as varied as The Swan from Saint-Saëns’ The Carnival of the Animals, to Brahms’ Double Concerto for Violin, Cello, and Orchestra.

With 12 cellos, the sound is warm and rich, and with that many cellists, the sound effects can be surprising, like the birds that appear during Debussy’s La Mer. And what happens during the Can-Can! The close with Ary Barroso’s Aquarela do Brasil tells you where the title came from.

Listening to Déjardin’s Aquarela is a real delight.

Aquarela do Violoncelo by Blaise Dejardin for 12 Cellos

Discover the cellist’s watercolours and find a new world of cello music! And watch out for Darth Vader! So, the answer to ‘what do you do with 12 cellos’? Have fun!

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