Composer Peteris Vasks, whose Cello Concerto No. 2 is among contemporary works that require instrumentalists to sing. Photo by Melanie Gomez.

In Tuesday’s (10/22) New York Times, Jeffrey Arlo Brown writes, “There are many difficult moments in Peteris Vasks’s Cello Concerto No. 2, ‘Klatbutne’ (‘Presence’)…. But for the renowned cellist Sol Gabetta, a simple chorale in D minor at the end is the really tricky part, because in that passage she has to not just play, but also sing…. At this point in the concerto, Gabetta, to whom the piece is dedicated, has been playing for over half an hour…. The effect of Gabetta’s clear voice joining her own cello, as well as two string soloists from the orchestra, is both startling and organic. By design, the conclusion retroactively changes your whole impression of the piece…. Vasks’s concerto is one of many compositions in recent decades that require musicians trained as instrumentalists to sing while they play, working explicitly with the contrast between their instrumental mastery and their typically untrained yet often expressive voices…. It requires excellent aural and physical coordination, a more careful and holistic approach to the posture of playing an instrument, and a certain fearlessness: Instrumentalists must be willing to make a sound they haven’t spent their lifetimes honing. The result can be extraordinarily powerful.”