Laurent Mettraux, Stimmungen

This work has been commissioned by the International Festival Viva Cello of Liestal (Switzerland), at the request of its Artistic Director, Patrick Demenga.

The first performance has taken place on August 27^th, 4 pm, at the Museum.BL of Liestal. The interpreters were Anita Leuzinger, Sebastian Diezig, Adam Mital and David Pia.

Duration of the work : approximately 12’30

Commentary of the work by the composer :

The title « Stimmungen » refers to the theme of the 2006 edition of the Viva Cello Festival, which is the 2 significations of the German word Stimmung(en) : tuning(s) of the strings and atmosphere(s) (in this case the atmospheres of the different movements). The score foresees the possibility of a different tuning for each movement, but it is also playable with a minimum of tuning changes – which might be useful during a concert.

The 5 movements have very contrasted atmospheres. The first movement is a rather contrapuntal appassionato ; the second is a malinconico (= melancholic), partly inspired by the art of the “consort of viols” of Elizabethan England. The third movement is a sinister macabro, with one of the cello parts playing a quarter tone higher than the others. The fourth movement, collerico (= wrathful), bases itself partly on chords on the four strings and clusters; at last, the fifth movement is an onirico (= dreamy), with suspended melodies and glissandi on the natural harmonics.

Laurent Mettraux, August 5^th, 2006

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