LAURENT METTRAUX
Route Principale 160, CH-1791 Courtaman (Switzerland),
tel. + fax: (+41)
26/684.18.65, E-mail : laurent.mettraux@bluewin.ch
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WORKS FOR /
WITH CELLO(S)
(catalogue from June 1st, 2007)
FOR ORDERING A SCORE - PRICE LIST
Concertos – Work with solo cello – Solos – Duos
Cello Ensemble – Chamber Music – Arpeggione
M.481 : Concerto for 15 soloist strings (1994) [20']
for 8 violins, 3 violas, 3 cellos and doublebass
103(+1) pages
Performing material to be asked from the composer.
Presentation, score
excerpt and audio recording
Each instrumentalist is at the same time solist,
chamber musician and member of the orchestra. 3 movements: passionate, elegiac,
and the third more rythmical, with successive cadenzas for each of the 15
solists. First performed during the opening concert of the Tibor Varga Festival
1994, by the members of the Festival Orchestra, conducted by Tibor varga.
M.625 : Le Nom Caché (The Hidden Name), oratorio (2001-2) [48']
for 4 soli (SATB), mixed choir, solo cello, two pianos
and percussion (6 players)
M.625 full score 149(+ 30) pages
M.625a reduction voice/piano: 197(+26) pages
Performing material to be asked from the composer.
CD recording
Presentation, score excerpts
and audio excerpts — Text
Contains an important part of cello solo. Ordered
by the National Swiss Exposition (2002). Work based on texts stressing the
anguish, and then the appeasement of the beings facing the mystery of a hidden
God, that can’t be named. The work develops itself while following the various
human feelings : questioning, rebellion, despair, haunting doubts, acceptation
of the limits of human comprehension, contemplative silence.
M.639 : Microlude
(2004) [1'40]
for solo cello
1 (+2) pages
score excerpt (pdf)
This short piece, ordered on the occasion of the inaugural concert of
the Compagnie CH.AU, has an elliptical and enigmatic character.
M.653 : Les
Espaces Insoupçonnés (2006) [11’]
4 (+2)
pages
This work begins in an elegiac manner, and is followed by a wild passage.
A lyrical melody leads to the central, ecstatic passage, that uses the
different kinds of vibratos in the high and the highest tones of the
instrument. Leaving these « espaces insoupçonnés » (unsuspected
spaces), the work returns progressively to a dramatic and bitter mood, like a
come back to earth after an out of time vision.
M.537 : Duo
(1996) [9']
for violin and cello
10(+1) pages
Energetic work. Free polyphony and imitation
techniques at the service of a work full of life and invention.
M.553 : Sonata (1997) [16']
for cello and piano
22(+1) pages with cello part: 6(+1) pages
Work yet to be first-performed (!! please contact the composer for first performance)
Epic and dark work, with a slow and elegiac movement
in the middle.
M.648 : Stimmungen (2005-6) [13']
for 4 cellos
16 (+5)p.
Presentation,
score excerpts and audio excerpts
The five movements of this work, ordered
by the Festival Viva Cello of Liestal, have very contrasted atmospheres. The
first movement is a contrapuntal appassionato ; the second, a melancholy piece
; the third a macabre and fear-inspiring movement. The fourth movement is
wrathful and bases itself on chords on the four strings and clusters ; the last
movement is dreamy, with suspended melodies and glissandi on the harmonics.
M.520 : Trio (1995-6) [17']
for violin, cello and piano
35(+1) pages ;
violin and cello parts: 20(+1) pages - 20(+1) pages
Presentation, score excerpts and audio
excerpts
Tragic work, with tensed climates, sometimes
mysterious, even terrifying, a scherzo furioso and a more calm ending.
Commission of the Animae Trio, which first performed it in Fribourg and at the
Melos-Ethos Festival of Bratislava.
M.552 : String trio (1997-8) [18’]
for violin, viola and violoncello
26(+2) pages
M.552a: performing material : 9(+2), 10(+1), 11(+1)
pages
Presentation, score excerpts and audio excerpts
Meditating work. The central part alternates growls of
revolt and of resignation, even grief. The appeased end moves off to inner
silence. Commission of Pro Helvetia for the Zurich String Trio, which first
performed it during August 2000 on the occasion of a tour in India and Sri
Lanka.
M.573 : Trio for alto saxophone, violoncello and piano (1998-9) [17’]
17(+2) pages
M.573a: saxophone
and cello parts: 2x12(+2) pages
CD recording
Presentation, score excerpt and audio
excerpts
2 contrasted movements: the first passionate, ending
in distress, and the second meditating, ending in serenity. Simultaneous
performance, on February 11th, 2000, during concerts organized by
the “Association for the Development of the Classical Saxophone”, which
commissioned the work, in more than ten cities in Switzerland and abroad.
M.632 : Trio for clarinet, cello and piano (2003) [14’]
24 (+3) pages
M.632a :
separate parts : 16(+3) pages - 15(+2) pages
Presentation, score excerpts and audio
excerpts
Ordered by the
Avalon Trio, first performed in April 2004 during the « 2 days & 2
nights of modern music » Festival of Odessa and during a concert tour in
Ukraine. In three
movements : angoscioso, where the lyricism of the clarinet and of the
cello contrasts with the implacable rhythms of the piano ; scherzo
furioso, followed by a more calm ending. This work is inspired, among others,
by elements of the Klezmer music.
M.636 : Attente (2004) [11']
for saxophone,
cello, piano and percussion (1 percussionist)
22 (+4) pages
M.636a: performing material: 16(+3) pages -
16(+3) pages - 22(+4) pages
This work is in turn passive and resigned, or active
and revolted expectation. The saxophonist plays on three instruments :
successively baritone, soprano and alto.
M.587 : String quartet n.1 (1998-9) [17’]
for 2 violins, viola and violoncello
12(+1) pages
M.587a: performing material : 10(+1), 3x8(+1) pages
Presentation, score excerpt and audio
excerpts
Ordered for the Talich Quartet, which has declared to have “enjoyed playing this lovely, thoughtful piece”. Single slow movement of a distress as extreme as its expressive density. Feeling of resignation.
M.660 : Cyprès (2007) [3’20]
for string quartet (2 violins, viola and violoncello)
5 (+ 2) pages
M.660a : performing material : 4x2 (+1) pages
This short work has been
written on the occasion of the first performance of the complete song cycle
« Cypresses » by Dvorak, out of which Dvorak himself had transcribed
for string quartet 12 of the songs. The work has a nostalgic character, and
uses the melodic cells taken from the 15th song of the cycle, which
Dvorak hasn’t transcribed for quartet. The interpreters of the first
performance shall be the members of the Leipziger String Quartet during the
Ljubljana 2007 Festival.
M.618 : String quintet
(2001-2) [17']
for 2 violins, 2 violas and cello
28(+1)
pages
M.618a :
performing material : 3x13, 12, 14 pages
Presentation, score excerpt and audio
excerpts
Commissioned by the Zurich String Quintet, this work
has been first performed during a tour in Finland and Lithuania, in July 2003.
A great movement, slow and oppressive, out of which emerges a kind of running
to the abyss based on an implacable ostinato.
M.627 : Quintet for flute and strings (2002-3) [14']
for flute, violin, 2 violas and cello
33(+2)
pages
M.627a :
performing material : 16p. +
4x12 pages
score excerpt (pdf)
Written for
Alexandre Magnin and the Janacek Quartet, full of dreamy nostalgia. The
sonority of the Quintet is more well-balanced, thanks to the use of a second
viola instead of a second violin. “There are to be found all human feelings in
this Quintet” (A. Magnin).
M.620 :
Septet (2001) [18']
for flute, clarinet, horn, bassoon, violin,
violoncello and piano
41(+3) pages
M.620a :
performing material : 25(+2) pages - 25(+2) pages - 25(+2) pages - 27(+2) pages
- 26(+2) pages – 27(+2) pages
Presentation,
score excerpt and audio excerpts
This septet has been especially written for the formation of the Mittelland Ensemble. Five movements linked together, mixing disquieting, tragic, mysterious or melancholic aspects.
M.654 : Le Tombeau de Ravel (2006) [6']
for tenor saxophone, bassoon, violin,
cello, piano, guitar and percussion
14
(+5) pages
M.654a :
performing material : 2 (+2) pages – 2 (+2) pages – 3 (+2) pages – 3
(+2) pages – 2 (+3) pages
Presentation, score excerpt and audio
excerpts
This
work has been written for a project of the Compagnie CH.AU, for which six
composers have written one movement each, corresponding to one of the parts of
the Tombeau de Couperin by Ravel. This piece inspires itself of the Menuet of
the Tombeau de Couperin, and has principally an elegiac, tender and nostalgic
character. It has also been instrumented for a chamber orchestra.
M.484 : Exils
(1994/7) [9']
for violin, cello and 2 percussionnists
17(+3) pages
Work yet to be
first-performed (!! please contact the composer
for first performance)
Non-traditional writing, but easy to unterstand.
Mystery, spelling passages, with superimposed tempi. Lyrical and nostalgic end,
during which the violinist goes away and leaves the hall while still playing.
In preparation :
Quartet for flute,
violin, viola and cello
All commissions welcome!
M.647
: Le Sommeil de la Raison produit des monstres (2005) [5']
for solo
arpeggione
4(+2)p.
After an engraving taken from the Caprichos by Goya. This short piece, concentrated, installs a mysterious and elliptic climate of wait and fear.