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About this piece
Five freely composed cello 'fantasias' (1999), each inspired by an American folksong from the Library of Congress recordings John and Alan Lomax made in the 1930s, many of them from Black prisoners in Southern jails. The movements range from a whispered holler and an angry protest song to a Bahamian dream of a better life, a Cajun girl's fantasy of escape and an Alabama blues. Written for Ulrich Heinen, who gave the first performance in Birmingham in May 1999.
Technical overview
Wide range of extended techniques: left-hand finger resonance and percussive slaps, scratch tone, legato with the wood of the bow, stamping and using the body of the cello as a drum (No. 2); mute throughout No. 3; a very fast, agile No. 4 ending in artificial harmonics; tremolo over the fingerboard alternating with a simply treated blues melody in No. 5.
Technical focus
- Harmonics