Tensor
- Instrumentation
- Cello Ensemble
- Composed
- 2018
- Duration
- 2'42''
- Publisher
- Composer (self-published)
Purchase or download
About this piece
A short minimalist trio for three cellos (about 2½ minutes), begun in October 2017 and finished in July 2018. Over a steady pulse at quarter = 120, repeated eighth-note patterns pass between the parts while the music switches between 4/4 and 12/8. The composer recorded all three parts himself for his album The Ageless Gate and posts the score free with alternative violin and viola parts, so the top two lines can also be played by a mixed string trio.
Technical overview
The top part climbs into thumb position for repeated sixteenth-note figures, the middle part keeps up steady eighth-note string crossings with a few double stops, and the bottom part holds a low pulse and pedal notes; all three have to lock together through the switches between 4/4 and 12/8.
Technical focus
- Ensemble Skills
- Meter Changes
- Shifting
- Thumb Position
- String Crossings
- Double Stops
- Articulation
- Hairpin Dynamics
- Rhythm