The cello’s range overlaps closely with the human voice. Its size, timbre, and resonance make it one of the most human of instruments — intimate, lyrical, and capable of expressing conversations, inner thoughts, growth, and epiphanies.

Here are three pieces where the cello doesn’t just play fancy cadenzas:

Awakening

Back when I was with the Guangzhou Symphony Youth Orchestra, we performed Duo by composer 赵麟. It was a piece commissioned by our orchestra, and we were lucky to have the composer around during some rehearsals, which made the work feel even more alive.

The piece tells the story of the monk 玄奘 and his journey westward in search of true Buddhist knowledge. The third movement, though notoriously tricky for us orchestra with its shifting, irregular tempos, is hauntingly beautiful.

In this section, 玄奘 is deep in meditation inside a cave. Surrounded by silence and the distant sound of water drops, he glimpses a moment of pure clarity — a fleeting understanding of truth. Here, the cello represents 玄奘 inner voice, those private stream of thought.

Past Time

Among modern Chinese cello concertos, one of the most renowned is 陈其钢’s Reflet d’un temps disparu (Reflection on a Vanished Time).

It’s written in an impressionistic style, but with an authentic Oriental character. Many of the harmonic colors — those unexpected, haunting chords — are borrowed from traditional Chinese music. Very French…

You need to be well-experienced to understand this piece. I still don’t…

Growth

The popular Chinese animation Luo Xiao Hei recently released its sequel, The Legend of Hei 2. One of its most poignant moments involves the character 鹿野, a war survivor grappling with childhood trauma.

The director put a six-minute silent flashback of 鹿野 in the film’s final sequence — no dialogue, no narration, with only music company. Fans often describe it as “touching and beautiful,” but the secret lies in the cello solo that opens this memory.

LuoXiaoHei is a popular animation IP in China, and in its recent movie The Legend of Hei 2, presents a character 鹿野 as a war victim growing up and outgrown her trauma. The final of the movie presents a 6-minutes silent memory flashback of the character. Fans describe it as “touching and beautiful,” but the secret lies in the cello solo that opens this memory.