Trois Impressions
- Instrumentation
- Cello, Piano
- Duration
- 16'30''
- Publisher
- G. Alsbach & Co., Amsterdam, c. 1928-29 (plates G.A. & Co. 4121-4123); public domain
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About this piece
A set of three short pieces for cello and piano: Cortège, Nuit calme and En Espagne, published as 'Impressions pour violoncelle avec accompagnement de piano'. Bosmans wrote them for the French cellist Gérard Hekking, the dedicatee and a former principal cellist of the Concertgebouw Orchestra, who first performed them in January 1925. According to Carine Alders's notes for the 2025 cpo recording, Cortège uses an ostinato bass to suggest a passing caravan, En Espagne evokes Spain with high piano triplets against a fiery dotted cello figure, and the set was Bosmans's last work for cello. The pieces were published separately and are often played on their own; the same notes count Nuit calme among her most frequently performed works.
Technical overview
Concert miniatures that take the cello high into the treble clef. Nuit calme is a very slow, sustained melody in a key with many sharps, and En Espagne needs rhythmic drive in dotted figures.