The application of the pedagogy of Evangeline Benedetti and Christopher Bunting to the performance of Grieg’s Sonata in A minor for cello and piano, and Carl Vine’s Inner World for cello and pre-recorded CD

This thesis aims to investigate how the pedagogical instruction of the cellists Evangeline Benedetti and Christopher Bunting can be applied to inform my performances of Grieg’s Sonata in a minor for cello and piano Op. 36 (1883) and Carl Vine’s Inner World for cello and pre-recorded CD (1994). This study involves the analysis of the technical approaches of Benedetti and Bunting, and the synthesis of these with those of other published pedagogues and my own observations regarding cello technique. The most reliable and musically successful technical approaches are then discussed in relation to Grieg’s Sonata and Vine’s Inner World and applied to the performances. The scope of the repertoire allows for assessments of the functionality of the ideas across very different musical styles. The compositions of Grieg and Vine were selected for this study for a number of reasons. The inclusion of a Romantic work is important as this period is representative of much of the cello’s core repertoire. Grieg’s work contains many instances where the technical approaches of Benedetti and Bunting can be discussed. Carl Vine’s Inner World suits very well as a contrasting work due to its rhythmic complexity, unique sound world and use of extended techniques.