Las Sombras de los Apus
- Instrumentation
- Cello Ensemble
- Composed
- 1998
- Duration
- 10'
- Publisher
- G. Schirmer (Wise Music)
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About this piece
A ten-minute work for four cellos (1998–99) based on the Quechua belief that every Andean peak is home to an apu, a minor deity who is easily angered by travellers who pass without an offering. The sections follow the composer's programme note: mist ("La Neblina") warns of the apu, the apu itself appears, an avalanche ("¡El Huayco!") breaks loose, and the earth grinds ("La Machaca") before silence returns. The writing is colourful and modernist, with scordatura, boxed figures that each player repeats out of sync with the others, and fast natural-harmonic glissandi.
Technical overview
No technical overview is available yet.