Six Etudes for Solo Violoncello
- Instrumentation
- Cello
- Composed
- 2009
- Duration
- 9'45''
- Publisher
- Vienna Masterworks (American Composers Alliance)
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About this piece
Six short contemporary etudes for unaccompanied cello, written in 2009 and lasting just under ten minutes in all; the composer described them as studies suitable for concert performance. Each is a compact, freely paced piece of about a minute and a half built on wide-ranging chromatic lines, with tempo flexibility such as 'push ahead', 'hold back' and 'freely' written into the part. Cellist Meaghan Burke recorded the set in 2010 for volume IX of Vienna Modern Masters' series of Van de Vate's chamber music.
Technical overview
The cellist plays chromatic lines across bass and tenor clef with double stops, a trill, free 32nd-note flourishes, left-hand pizzicato against bowed notes and measured double-stop tremolo, while shaping frequent written-in tempo changes.
Technical focus
- Double Stops
- Pizzicato
- Shifting
- Rubato
- Tempo Changes
- Accidentals
- Hairpin Dynamics
- Articulation