Nolck Petit Album de Concert for Cello and Piano

August Nölck's Petit Album de Concert is a set of six short concert pieces for cello and piano, published by Bosworth. Each piece leads with a musical character worth playing; the bowing technique grows naturally from the music rather than the other way round.

The collection sits at around ABRSM Grade 4 and works through a range of bowing skills in a sensible sequence. The opening Tempo di ballo in C major addresses bow distribution from the start: two beats on the down bow and one on the up bow, with the up bow appearing sometimes legato and sometimes as a lifted staccato. Slurring into accents adds another layer. The Tempo di minuetto in G major is lighter in weight, with the focus on slurs and dynamic contrast within a gentle dance idiom. The Allegretto grazioso in A minor moves to 6/8 and introduces a two-note slur with a lifted staccato up bow, alongside broken slur patterns that ask for rhythmic clarity.

The two Andante movements address tone quality and bow weight. The first, in E minor, works on drawing a sustained sound through longer phrases within slurs. The second, in D major, asks for three notes on the down bow to one on the up bow, a bow division that teaches the player a great deal about managing speed and weight. The collection closes with a Tempo di valse in F major, which calls for a light, off-the-string stroke at the heel — a useful technique to arrive at through a piece the student will actually want to practise.

Together the six pieces run to around ten minutes, making the collection useful both as lesson material and as a short recital programme. The variety of keys and time signatures means individual pieces can be taken out of sequence to address a particular technical need.

Check the score and parts preview images above, then watch the complete score video below. They'll give you a clear picture of the engraving quality and overall difficulty before you buy.

Key features:

• Instrumentation: Cello and piano
• Difficulty: approximately ABRSM Grade 4
• Duration: approximately 10 minutes (complete set)
• Style focus: bow distribution, lifted staccato, sustained tone within slurs, off-string playing
• Format: PDF download, full score and cello part

A Grade 4 student who needs to develop bowing awareness alongside musical judgement will find this collection well-suited to that work. Individual pieces stand alone as short recital pieces; the full set makes a solid programme for a student concert or school performance evening. Teachers looking for Romantic cello repertoire that does real technical work without resembling an exercise book will find plenty here.