whisper concerto
Détails du produit
Description
"whisper concerto" is named after the 'agitato' whisper cadenza of György Ligeti's cello concerto. Like my violin concerto 'Artifacts', this piece is intended not only as a showcase for the cello, but also for the full orchestra to respond to and complement the soloist. 'whisper concerto' is an elaboration of several musical contradictions that I find fascinating: how can an Andante be agitato? A presto dolcissimo? How can a cadenza play (and be playful) with the evolving demands and expectations of the performer's virtuosity? How can a simple chorale become the shadow of a desperate, fluttering, noisy deluge?
In the score I record all the sound elements in great detail, including illustrations of the objects I use to prepare the piano strings. I also give precise instructions for most of the other instruments, whether for the col legno battuto bow or a passage in which the cello uses a bamboo stick. At other points, I call for unconventional variations on traditional techniques such as pizzicati or flutter tonguing.
In my concerto, composed in 2022/23, I try to stay true to my style while making it sound idiomatic and yet extremely strange. Euphonious, almost conventionally tonal melodies are in loving exchange with shameless noise. A certain amount of disorder, then virtuosity, pauses for breath, strangely wild passages, shards and fragments of free jazz mysteriously come together to form a peculiar chorale. The end of my concerto has elements of Ligeti's noise-based cadenza as its foundation, but in a different, more tonal context. I explained this in a recent interview with Rita Fernandes of The Strad magazine.
One challenge in composing my cello concerto was to strike a balance between the solo instrument and the orchestra. The cello's low register can be difficult to balance, and I really wanted to preserve the integrity of the instrument. It was never going to be a battle between the cello and the orchestra. Rather, I wanted them to come together in a way that provoked intimacy between them.
- Katherine Balch
Orchestral Cast
Plus d'infos
Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center
Zlatomir Fung, cello · Musikalische Leitung: Gemma New · Dallas Symphony Orchestra