Thought Crimes for Cello
- Instrumentation
- Cello
- Composed
- 2005
- Publisher
- Composer (self-published)
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About this piece
An ongoing collection of short unaccompanied cello pieces, begun in 2005, each a character portrait of a person, pet or neighbourhood oddity from the composer's life; the free score has four books of four pieces (1:45 to 7 minutes each), with further pieces such as Bawa and Zap Bango added since. The first two books grew from musical snippets and jingles invented by a former flatmate; later pieces portray the composer's mother, father, wife and cats, and Self Portrait is a neo-Baroque sarabande modelled on Bach's suites. The pieces can be played singly or as a set and range from lyrical miniatures to playful technical studies, such as Off Colour Joke, played entirely on the C string, and Moe the Moa, which changes playing technique on almost every note.
Technical overview
Across the set the cellist plays fast arpeggiated string crossings in irregular meters (7/16, 9/16, 13/16), passages in tenor and treble clef with natural harmonics, and extended techniques including sul ponticello, sul tasto, col legno and rapid pizzicato–arco alternation. Several pieces call for free rubato and wide dynamic contrast.
Technical focus
- String Crossings
- Meter Changes
- Harmonics
- Pizzicato
- C String Notes
- Rubato
- Double Stops
- Shifting
- Articulation
- Tempo Changes
- Hairpin Dynamics
- Accidentals