Elegy
- Instrumentation
- Cello, Piano
- Composed
- 1985
- Duration
- 6'
- Publisher
- Canadian Music Centre (unpublished, printed by CMC), RSN 13319, call no. MI 3213 P419el; new engraving by Kathryn Cernauskas
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About this piece
Barbara Pentland made this Elegy for cello and piano in 1985 from her Elegy for horn and piano of 1980. A Largo sostenuto in 6/4 frames a faster middle: first an aleatory zone, where the cellist plays a given series of notes freely against repeating piano figures and a piano trill cues the next entry, then a 6/8 Allegro in which the cello wavers a quarter tone above and below E-flat. When the Largo returns, the cello plays sul tasto, marked 'lontano', and ends on a long high C while the piano's final chord is left to decay.
Technical overview
Largo sostenuto at quarter = 60, rising from bass clef into treble clef, then a 6/8 Allegro with staccato, sul tasto and sul ponticello. The aleatory zones, a harmonic glissando, measured tremolo and quarter-tone and three-quarter-tone inflections call for an experienced player, and the piece ends on a held high C at pp. About 6 minutes.