Performance Notes
Three Scenes for Solo Cello showcases the full range of the unaccompanied cello in three
virtuosic movements, each with its own unique character. The first, The Chase, is
grotesquely reminiscent of a Bach Prelude. The music incessantly drives forward in a
violent run of 16th notes, which outlines parts of the octatonic scale, chromatic scale, and
Lydian mode. The second, Lamentation, is an unmeasured cry with some of the same
scalar figures as the first, but in a rhythmically free context. Trills on high pitches conjure
an image of birds, with low interjections that help provide harmonic grounding. The third
movement, Debate, is the longest of the three. Here, the driving rhythm from the first is
altered within a lilting mixed-meter dance of pizzicati. The music oscillates between
slow and fast, as if it does not know where it is going, until a return to music from the end
of the first movement brings closure to the work as a whole. Albeit heavy and violent at
times, the piece ends with a pizzicato wink, to suggest a more light-hearted affect.
virtuosic movements, each with its own unique character. The first, The Chase, is
grotesquely reminiscent of a Bach Prelude. The music incessantly drives forward in a
violent run of 16th notes, which outlines parts of the octatonic scale, chromatic scale, and
Lydian mode. The second, Lamentation, is an unmeasured cry with some of the same
scalar figures as the first, but in a rhythmically free context. Trills on high pitches conjure
an image of birds, with low interjections that help provide harmonic grounding. The third
movement, Debate, is the longest of the three. Here, the driving rhythm from the first is
altered within a lilting mixed-meter dance of pizzicati. The music oscillates between
slow and fast, as if it does not know where it is going, until a return to music from the end
of the first movement brings closure to the work as a whole. Albeit heavy and violent at
times, the piece ends with a pizzicato wink, to suggest a more light-hearted affect.
