Kindermusik Nr. 2 "Astronomie in Bildern"
- Instrumentation
- Cello, Other
- Composed
- 1995
- Duration
- 11'
- Publisher
- Verlag Neue Musik, Berlin (NM 2122, series ars futura, ed. Gerhard Scherer)
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About this piece
The second of Tchemberdji's 'Kindermusik' pieces, written in 1995 for cello and accordion on commission from the Klangwerkstatt Kreuzberg, a Berlin new-music festival. Its four movements are 'Astronomy in Pictures': Rotation, The Black Hole, Accumulations in the Vacuum and The Light Ray. It introduces young players to contemporary sounds rather than conventional melody, using sul tasto/sul ponticello colour changes, harmonic glissandi, left-hand pizzicato and passages timed in seconds. The publisher describes it as thoroughly avant-garde but easy for children to follow. It was premiered in Berlin on 11 November 1995, and a recording by pupils of the Kreuzberg music school appears on the CD AMA Kreuzberg 10042.
Technical overview
The cellist sustains open-string notes while gradually moving the bow between sul tasto and sul ponticello, plays natural harmonics and harmonic glissandi on the A and D strings, and mixes left-hand pizzicato with arco. Unmeasured, seconds-timed sections have to be coordinated with the accordion.
Technical focus
- Bow Control
- Harmonics
- Pizzicato
- Sustain
- Vibrato
- Hairpin Dynamics
- Ensemble Skills