Song of the Birds

Ethnic Music, Intermediate Cellists, Online Purchase
First published on Mar 10, 2026 by Seb
Last updated on Mar 10, 2026 by Seb

Pablo Casals may be best known for rescuing Bach’s unaccompanied cello suites. But he is also well-remembered for bringing Song of the Birds, a traditional Catalan Christmas carol, to international fame. A native of Catalonia, Casals turned this song into a haunting cello solo with a simple piano accompaniment. After his exile following the Spanish Civil War, he performed Song of the Birds at each of his concerts as a protest against Franco’s fascist regime. In time, this song came to symbolize the plight of refugees around the world, culminating in Casals receiving the United Nations Peace Medal, an occasion at which he performed the song before the General Assembly. Today, it has become a symbol of Catalonia itself.

Originally arranged by Casals for cello and piano in A minor, the song is often performed by cellists today completely unaccompanied; the short piano introduction and closing phrases typically omitted. The simple yet poignant melody alone allows a cellist to convey profound emotion without the support of chords, harmonies, or other instruments. Here is Yo-Yo Ma playing Song of the Birds during the COVID pandemic, as part of his Songs of Comfort series. In this version, Yo-Yo evokes the missing piano introduction and closing phrases with delicate trills on the cello.

Many cellists take great liberties in interpreting the tempo of this piece. Pablo Ferrández performs this music without piano intro and closing, at a much retarded tempo. He also varies duration of certain notes to create an even more exotic and personal rendition.

What truly caught our attention, however, was a remarkable arrangement by Scottish composer Sally Beamish, commissioned by the celebrated cellist Steven Isserlis. Beamish had the inspired idea of transforming the piano part into deep bass notes, reinventing the piece as a self-accompanied cello work in the spirit of Bach’s cello suites, a perfect fit for our mission here at Project Bach Wrote What. To unlock the instrument’s natural resonance, she transposed the music down a whole step to G minor, allowing the open strings to ring freely in both the G minor and C minor chords. This is precisely the kind of creative liberty we embrace when rearranging beloved melodies for self-accompanied cello, though not without the occasional reproach from traditionalists who bristle at the idea of transposed music. In Sally Beamish and Steven Isserlis, it seems, we are in very good company indeed.

Here is another video of Steven Isserlis playing this piece he commissioned. Notice how the bass notes are brought to life through a combination of pizzicato and bowing, wherever the fingering allows. Sheet music for this arrangement is available at the Scottish Music Centre: Sally Beamish: Song of the Birds. There is also a version for two cellos.

Sally Beamish’s arrangement of Song of the Birds evokes feelings strikingly similar to those stirred by another traditional folk melody half a world away: the Afghan song “Bia ke borem ba Mazar”, as arranged for cello by Dan Allcott.

In 1971, Pablo Casals was awarded the United Nations Peace Medal in recognition of his lifelong stance for peace, justice, and freedom. At the ceremony, he delivered a short speech on Catalonia, on peace, and on what Song of the Birds had come to mean to him. He then performed the piece accompanied by strings, moving and assured despite his fragile physical state, just two months shy of his 95th birthday. The following video juxtaposes his speech with footage of the concert.

A decade earlier, in 1961, Pablo Casals performed Song of the Birds in its original arrangement for cello and piano in A minor, at the White House, at the invitation of President John F. Kennedy. Sheet music for this arrangement can be found in the collection The Casals Legacy: 10 Solo Pieces from Pablo Casals’ Repertoire for Cello and Piano Accompaniment.

Here is Yo-Yo Ma once more, this time performing the piece accompanied by fellow cellists from an orchestra, in place of the piano.

In 2017, at the tender age of 18, the prodigiously talented Sheku Kanneh-Mason similarly recorded his rendition of Song of the Birds accompanied by a cello ensemble.

Sometimes this music is performed with the backing of a full string orchestra, painting an even richer soundscape. In 2022, the Amsterdam Sinfonietta performed the piece featuring cellist Victor Julien-Laferrière.

Here is a solo rendition by one of our favorite bachwrotewhat cellists, Gabriel Martins, performed in 2022 at Wigmore Hall in London.

Finally, we have something a little different: cellist Tim Smedley performing Song of the Birds as a one-man protest against his local council’s decision to cut down a beloved neighborhood tree.