Kodaly Solo Sonata

Photo by Zahra Alikahi

This composition by Zoltan Kodaly (1915) is a constant journey for me; a piece that will be with me my whole life and hopefully improve alongside my improvement as a cellist. When I first started playing this sonata I only had my wooden cello, which is relatively large, and I was not able to acquire the stamina needed to perform the piece in its entirety; besides, my left hand was not big enough to reach all the pitches in the final movement, where tenths in the fifth position appear in the recap. Some years later I bought my carbon fibre cello which is smaller in size and has less of a gap between the strings and the fingerboard. Suddenly, a performance of the whole sonata was within my reach, literally speaking. I invited some friends over for a concert in my living room, and despite my technical limitations, I chose to share the evening with those who would be interested in it, via YouTube:

Zoltan Kodaly, Solo Sonata for Cello. Performed by Ragnhild E. Wesenberg (2021) - YouTube