Miniatures in India
by Neva Tesolin
- Instrumentation
- Cello, Piano
- Composed
- 2003
- Duration
- 12'25''
- Publisher
- Canadian Music Centre (unpublished, printed by CMC), RSN 78051, call no. MI 3213 T341min 2003
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About this piece
Neva Tesolin, a composer from St. Catharines, Ontario, wrote Miniatures in India in 2003 while on sabbatical from teaching; it was her first suite. It grew out of the talas and ragas she learned at the Vijnana Kala Vedi Cultural Centre in Aranmula, Kerala. 'Prayers Ignite' recalls the strings of firecrackers hung over the village streets, each explosion a personal prayer; 'Temple Incense' is loosely based on the Bimplas raga; and 'The River Pamba', named for the holy river that runs through Aranmula, uses the raga Maya Malava Gowla and the sa, pa, sa that frames Carnatic devotional music. Cellist Gord Cleland and pianist Erika Reiman gave the premiere at Brock University in 2004.
Technical overview
'Prayers Ignite' is a marcatissimo scherzando in tenor and bass clef, with accented sixteenth-note figures, sfp high notes, trills and a slide to a random high note. 'Temple Incense' is a slow Andante espressivo in 4/4 and 3/4, mostly in bass clef, with long sustained lines and a pizzicato passage. 'The River Pamba' climbs through tenor into treble clef and adds a measured trill that accelerates, a scherzando section over busy piano writing, and a quiet Adagio ending.
Technical focus
- Accidentals
- Collaboration with Piano
- Glissando
- Marcato
- Meter Changes
- Pizzicato
- Shifting
- Tempo Changes
- Tenor Clef
- Treble Clef
- Trills