LAURENT METTRAUX
Route Principale 160,
CH-1791 Courtaman (Switzerland),
tel. + fax: (+41)
26/684.18.65, E-mail : laurent.mettraux(at)bluewin.ch
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WORKS FOR /
WITH CELLO(S)
(catalogue from August
31st, 2010)
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) pages
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
Work yet to be first-performed (!! please contact the composer for first performance)
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.
M.675 : Offrande Funèbre en hommage à Bach (2010) [5']
for flute, violin, cello and
organ
10 (+2) pages
M.675a : performing material : 3 x 3 (+1) pages
The Offrande Funèbre en hommage à Bach
(Funeral Offering in homage to Bach) is based on four themes
: an omnipresent plaintive and almost obsessive motive ; the theme of
the Funeral Offering itself ; a lyrical theme, at first played by the flute ;
at last, a chromatic basso ostinato, sometimes
descending, sometimes ascending. The
four themes intermingle progressively, while the organ plays the beginning of
the Ricercar a 3, which dissolves gradually after
the entry of its 3rd voice. Commissioned by the
Schweizer Kammerensemble, which first performed it in
Lenzburg (Switzerland), on August 20th,
2010.
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 :
16 pages + 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.668 : Quintet for clarinet and strings (2008) [12']
for clarinet, 2 violins,
viola and cello
37
(+2) pages
M.668a:
performing material : 10
(+1) pages – 10 (+1) pages – 12 (+1) pages – 11 (+1) pages – 11 (+1) pages
Commissioned by the Davos
Festival, first performed 2008 by Shirley Brill, clarinet, and the Terpsycordes Quartet. This work is built on several short
cells, developed, mixed and transmuted during the whole work. The
counterpointed work plays with the pitches (also in the extremes) and the
oppositions between diaphanous passages, nostalgic melodies, and more clashed
and violent moments, the whole generating progressively a mixing of the themes,
of the melodic lines and rhythms.
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.
All commissions welcome!
M.647 : Le Sommeil de la Raison produit des monstres
(2005) [5']
for solo arpeggione
4 (+2) pages
Presentation, score excerpt
and audio recording
After an engraving taken from the Caprichos by Goya. This short piece, concentrated, installs a mysterious and elliptic climate of wait and fear.