Day 26 - “FOCUSED” Review

Hey! 1 Video today, plus one re-linked PDF

Downloads:
Just one thing in case you want another :)

10x practice check in sheet

Today’s Recommended Listening:

Arvo Pärt (b. 1935)
Fratres for Cello & Piano

(Cello & Piano Duet)

Santiago Cañon-Valencia, cello & Naoko Sonoda, piano
[Spotify] - 12 minutes

Arvo Pärt is an Estonian composer who rose to prominence as a “minimalist” composer - but a different style of minimalism than the American School of Minimalism with Philip Glass, Steve Reich, David Lang et. al.

This piece was originally for violin and piano but it is a staple of the cello repertoire now, too. There are any number of other versions available to listen to (including cello ensemble versions etc!) but this is a great recording.

The minimalism of Fratres is on display from the very beginning. It’s 2 pages of cello chords before the piano even enters. The piano asks a simple question and the rest of the piece is a series of pristine variations based on and responding to that question. Stunning.

I think we can learn a lot about chamber music (and concertos, though this isn’t one) generally by asking ourselves the same set of questions when each variation appears: 

  1. Is the cello, or piano, both, or neither the “main” instrument?
    (For a great explanation of “neither,” I would recommend reading Frank O’Hara’s poem “Why I Am Not A Painter” - link here - it’s had a profound impact on my own composition).

  2. Are the two instruments collaborating, at odds, responding to each other, or ignoring each other?

  3. Is this material fully the same, similar to, or completely different than anything we’ve heard so far?

  4. As we accumulate musical material over the course of the piece, are there any particularly unusual combinations of those three questions?
    (e.g. does same/similar/different + collaborating/at odds/responding/ignoring + cello/piano/both/neither give unexpected results or tell us anything new?)

For example of #4: at 3:58 in Santiago’s recording, this passage always reminds me of the very opening. It’s the only fast passage like this played while the piano is playing, so the combination is different. And it seems like the two are at odds. Then the cello gets frustrated at the argument and the piano is left shouting (at it?) as it walks away. Food for thought.

Santiago is another Colombian cellist-composer (like Andrea Casarrubios) and is fantastic at both. Worth looking into!

    1. What to explore next:

      1. Part - Spiegel im Spiegel (“Mirror in Mirror”)

      2. Part - Tabula Rasa (“Blank Slate”)

      3. Damien Ponce de Leon - La Ruta de la Mariposa (Trail of the Butterflies)

See you tomorrow!
—Eric