Anna Trevor performs the first movement of Sonata in G minor by Henry Eccles

New Hampshire-based cellist Anna Trevor gave me a wry smile before putting the bow to the strings of her cello. I was trying to convince her to perform an original tune, but although she assured me that she had written several songs on guitar, she hadn’t worked them all out on the cello. So I switched gears, and asked her if there was a song she simply loved to play on the cello. That’s where the smile came from.

“There’s definitely a very sad classical tune that I really enjoy playing,” she said.

The piece would turn out to be the first movement of Sonata in G minor, perhaps the best-known work by Henry Eccles, an 18th century English composer largely unknown outside of classical music circles. One can only imagine that he’d be pleased to know that his work can still bring a tingle of excitement to a young woman living nearly three centuries later.

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This video, however, has been sitting around in the Busk Break vaults since it was recorded on that windy day in the winter of 2010. Instead, I opted to go with the next tune she played, “Old Joe Clark,” and quickly forgot that this performance even existed. Two years later, I’m very happy to present it for the first time.