Sonata for Solo Cello

This sizeable and demanding piece was composed in August 2000. There are five movements:
I – Praeludium “d’après Tchaïkovski” – the descending scale with its gapped rhythm commencing the glorious pas de deux from Nutcracker is gradually expanded and explored in many directions.
II – Burla – vigoroso, “four-square” –  chunky, energetic, emphatic.
III – Sarabande – a huge arc of concentrated lyricism: the homage to JS Bach latent as that to Tchaikovsky in the first movement is explicit.
IV – Serenata – played pizzicato throughout, a light dry surround to the gently strumming guitar-like three- and four-part chords of the middle section.
V – Gigue en rondeau – a whirlwind perpetuum mobile; much of it in a whisper, but exploding into episodes of energy, even roughness, and rising to one of delicate gentleness, returning later on fluting harmonies before the movement reaches a strenuous climax, then fades away into a pianissimo mutter.