Sentimental Work: Ayanna Witter-Johnson on Debussy’s Cello Sonata

I was around 20 years old when I came across Debussy’s Cello Sonata for the first time. I was studying cello, piano and composition at Trinity Laban and my tutor David Kenedy recommended it as a piece for me to study. It was so rich and gorgeous, such a landscape of colours and a journey through so many places, I remember wondering where it had been all my life! Of course I wanted to study it right away: Debussy is one of my favourite composers to play on the piano, but the cello part contains so much texture and lyricism that I felt there was much more depth than I had discovered before. It has all the elements I love in music: it has a rich harmonic palette, it takes me on a journey, it’s profoundly moving and it’s quirky…