Duo for Violin and Cello
- Instrumentation
- Violin, Cello
- Composed
- 2015
- Duration
- 11'
- Publisher
- Jessie Montgomery Music
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About this piece
Written in 2015 for the composer's friend, cellist Adrienne Taylor, this three-movement duo is, in Montgomery's words, an ode to friendship, with movements characterising laughter, compassion, adventure and sometimes silliness. Meandering opens with fragments passed between the instruments like old friends catching up and closes with pizzicato chords; Dirge is the emotional centre, a call-and-response of longing with ambiguous harmony; Presto breaks the mood with sudden harmonic clarity and bright, kinetic figures before a joyful final push.
Technical overview
Contrapuntal dialogue between the two players throughout; pizzicato chords close the first movement; the Dirge calls for sustained, expressive call-and-response; the Presto demands fast, bright, rhythmically tight ensemble playing, including passages in unison.