The Cresset Stone
by Hilary Tann
- Instrumentation
- Cello
- Composed
- 1993
- Duration
- 9'
- Publisher
- Rowanberry Music (Estate of Hilary Tann); cello score © Hilary Tann and Oxford University Press, 2004
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About this piece
A nine-minute unaccompanied piece composed in December 1993 for the Presteigne Festival, where violinist Krzysztof Smietana gave the first performance in 1994; Tann also made versions for viola and for cello. The title refers to the medieval stone oil lamp in Brecon Cathedral, and in the composer's note the work is "a meditation on stone and light that begins and ends in stillness", with its inner sections quoting the final Kyrie of an 11th-century Gregorian chant. The single movement moves between three tempos, from the meditative opening through flowing 'volante' sixteenth-note passages, and the metre changes often.
Technical overview
The cellist reads bass, tenor and treble clef, reaching briefly into thumb position, with natural harmonics, double stops and slurred arpeggios across the strings. Quintuplet and sextuplet figures, constant metre changes and three alternating tempos with frequent allargando and a tempo call for flexible, well-controlled timing.
Technical focus
- Thumb Position
- Harmonics
- Double Stops
- String Crossings
- Meter Changes
- Tempo Changes
- Rubato