Prayer on the Seashore, Op. 121
by Kohei Kondo
- Instrumentation
- Cello
- Composed
- 2011
- Duration
- 4'30''
- Publisher
- Kohei Kondo (self-published; free on IMSLP, also sold via Piascore)
Purchase or download
About this piece
Kohei Kondo wrote this unaccompanied lament between 20 March and 10 April 2011, after the Great East Japan Earthquake and the Fukushima nuclear accident, in memory of their victims. It was written for bassoon or cello. Bassoonist Robert Rønnes gave the premiere in Stavanger, Norway, on 10 April 2011, and the first cello performance followed that May. The composer reports more than 150 performances worldwide in its various versions.
Technical overview
A slow lament at quarter note = 50, written in bass clef throughout and reaching down to the C string. The meter changes often among 4/4, 3/4, 5/4 and 6/4, and short triplet figures break up long tied notes. Chromatic lines need careful intonation, and the dynamics range from pp to ff with long hairpins.
Technical focus
- Accidentals
- C String Notes
- Dynamics
- Hairpin Dynamics
- Legato
- Meter Changes
- Triplets