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

 

 

ConcertosWork with solo celloSolosDuos

Cello EnsembleChamber MusicArpeggione

 

 

 

Concertos

 

 

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.

 

 

 

Work with solo cello

 

 

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.

 

 

 

Solo

 

 

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’]

for solo cello

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.

 

 

 

Duos

 

 

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.

 

 

 

Cello Ensemble

 

 

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.

 

 

 

Chamber Music

 

 

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!

 

 

 

Arpeggione

 

 

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.