Notes on "Cello Elegies and Romances"
by Penelope Lynex

Fanny Hensel Fantasia in G minor and Capriccio in A flat (LIR022)
Penelope and Alexander were greatly moved to perform in the Mendelssohn family home in Leipzig after their CD of Frank Bridge works was heard by the organisers of the museum.
Their Sunday morning programmes as in the 1840s in the Musik Salon, included works by Felix Mendelssohn and these two pieces by his sister Fanny Hensel, also a highly talented musician.

Paul Tortelier Élégie (LIR022)
Penelope’s much loved teacher wrote this Élégie after the death of his own teacher, LR Feuillard, so this performance has its own emotional dimensions.

David Wilde The Cellist of Sarajevo, Op.12 (LIR022)
As a youngster David performed a Beethoven concerto with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain while Penelope was a cellist there. He sent copies of this piece in the 1990s to many cellists, and Penelope Lynex, much moved by the piece, played it frequently at home and abroad.

Gabriel Fauré Élégie, Op.24 (LIR023)
The monarch of all Elegies in the cello repertoire, and justly famous, was composed a short time after the death of Fauré’s mother. Penelope has performed this magnificent piece at innumerable recitals and funerals.

C. W. Orr Midsummer Dance (LIR023)
A family friend of the Lynexes, Wilfred often came to stay and played the piano for long periods in the semi-basement music room in Putney, London. Both parents sang his songs, which have since been much praised, and this cello piece written for Penelope is one of his few works of another genre.

Claude Debussy Sonate (LIR023)
One of the last works I was to study while in Paris. I really was with the right teacher for this atmospheric and unique work/sonata

(notes written by Penelope Lynex, September 2011)

Return to: LIR022 or LIR023


The cello repertoire abounds in Elegies. Later composers have taken their cue from Fauré’s iconic example of 1883, with its tolling bells and serene songfulness rising to an anguished climax, and have recognised something in the sound of the instrument that lends itself to the expression of grief and mourning. Each composer responds to the title in an individual way, and the idea of an anthology bringing together these diverse responses occurred to the artists some years ago, with warm encouragement from Christopher Raeburn, the late legendary Decca producer.

When it came to choosing other pieces to lighten the elegiac tone, we made a selection of smaller-scale works from our repertoire, most of which carry strong personal echoes, and which have in common a kind of narrative immediacy and charm suggested by the word “Romance”. Peter Dickinson’s Threnody and C.W. Orr’s Midsummer Dance are both dedicated to Penelope Lynex, she is personally acquainted with David Wilde, and she was a student of both Casals and Tortelier. Both artists were greatly moved to perform works by Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel and her brother Felix at the Mendelssohn family home in Leipzig.

There are also several dances in the programme, including the second movement of Isobel Dunlop’s Suite and Moszkowski’s delicious serenade, “Guitarre”, as well as the more obvious Mazurka, Polonaise and “Midsummer Dance”. The only Sonata included, Debussy’s late masterpiece, seems to combine elements of elegiac melancholy, romantic story-telling and festive dance.

Pablo Casals Song of the Birds(LIR022)
Having heard Pablo Casals’ legendary tone ‘live’ when playing in Casals’ master-classes, Penelope has endeavoured in this most personal of pieces to recreate his sound and give an interpretation he would have approved of.