Cello

As the title suggests, (control) deals with differing degrees of control – exertion of control and release of control – “applied” to both performer and listener. The performers are asked to read a very specific score and simultaneously improvise with varying degrees of liberty.

Program Note:

The conductor raises his arm to cue the entrance of yet another majestic Russian
tune. The French horn prepares for its solo – The solo. It’s the finale of the Firebird.

In the absence of sound, a conductor’s gesture may be perceived as performative, bordering on absurd. It was Stravinsky’s

Tentations—its title derived from the mechanical engineering term meaning “a method of making mechanical adjustment by a succession of trials”—came to fruition through exactly such experimental means. The composition, indeed is a posteriori, a musical hindsight born from intense collaboration between cellist and composer.

This piece reflects my interest in the intersection between natural and musical structures, and the nuances revealed by close listening. It also, I think, bears traces of the many hours I spent wandering with camera and recording devices through the old town and along the promenade in Nice, absorbing color, shape, movement, reflection.

Why do we create art and what do we expect it to do? This is the question posed in 68. In the beginning we witness the creative act: a poet, writing and speaking out the earliest fragments of his poems; discovering through experiment his voice, both physically and figuratively.

Concert of improvised music, featuring AACM member and multi-instrumentalist Douglas Ewart, cellist and bassist Kash Killion, instrument builder Walter Kitundu, and live electronics by David Wessel.

la mar amarga (2007) for piano trio
music by Cindy Cox
Graeme Jennings, violin, Leighton Fong, cello, and Christopher Jones, piano
photo from Sensitive Chaos by Theodor Schenk (Rudolph Steiner Press, 1965)

Concert of improvised music, February 27, 2008