for for cello for extended techniques cello
When preparing new works or collaborating with composers, I often encounter the opinion that the possibilities of string instruments have been exhausted.
Most people explore the possibilities of wind instruments, object-based instruments, ethnic instruments, and electronics. Meanwhile, instrumental techniques continue to advance – the spectacular taps, slaps, and scrapes of the 1960s, or the experiments with bow and left-hand finger pressure popularized at the end of the 20th century, are not the end of the cello’s possibilities. In 12 Etudes for Solo Cello, I explore rarely encountered extended techniques such as various manipulations of the instrument’s resonance, multiphones, pizzicatos on different parts of the instrument, dyads, overtones, and subtones, approaching the cello more like an analog synthesizer or object than as a noble instrument, burdened with centuries of tradition and rich symbolism.
Composed under a Scholarship from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland
Sheetmusic
Recording and commentary materials
