As asas são sempre leves (Modinha)
by Luiz Pardal
- Instrumentation
- Cello, Cello
- Composed
- 2022
- Publisher
- Musica Brasilis (free download, licensed by the composer)
Purchase or download
About this piece
Luiz Pardal, a multi-instrumentalist, composer and arranger from Pará who holds a doctorate in composition from the Federal University of Bahia and teaches at the music school of the Federal University of Pará, wrote this modinha for two cellos in 2022 for the Duo Santoro, the Rio de Janeiro twin cellists Paulo and Ricardo Santoro. The score credits a text by Jorge Andrade, but the cellos play without words. Cello 1 sings a long, chromatic tune in A major while cello 2 keeps the harmony moving in slurred broken-chord eighths; for a few bars near the end the two swap places before the piece fades on a held A.
Technical overview
Common time at quarter = 86 with occasional 6/4 bars, in A major but heavily chromatic, in bass clef throughout. Cello 1 lives mostly in 4th position on the A string and climbs briefly into the 7th-position range above the staff; cello 2 plays wide slurred arpeggios across all four strings, down to low C, plus tenuto bass notes. Long slurs and constant hairpins ask for planned bow distribution in both parts.
Technical focus
- Accidentals
- Ensemble Skills
- Hairpin Dynamics
- Legato
- Meter Changes
- Shifting
- String Crossings