Janeiro no Rio
by Eli Joory
- Instrumentation
- Cello, Cello
- Publisher
- Musica Brasilis (free score and parts, licensed by the composer)
Purchase or download
About this piece
Eli Joory, born in Rio de Janeiro in 1961, dedicated Janeiro no Rio (January in Rio) to the Duo Santoro, and Paulo and Ricardo Santoro recorded it on their 2022 album O Compositor É Vivo!. The piece moves through a chain of moods marked in Portuguese: a 'Vigoroso' opening in which the second cello punches out staccato double stops, a 'Divertido, malemolente' (playful, with a lazy sway) tune in syncopated sixteenths, a 'Cantabile, com emoção' in 6/8 where both parts set duplets and quadruplets against the beat, a plucked 'Saltitante, misterioso' passage and a free 'Tranquilo, desmanchando'. The playful tune then returns, and both players finish on fortissimo double stops, the last one held and fading to pianissimo.
Technical overview
Mostly in 2/4 at quarter note = 70, with sections in 6/8, 9/8 and 3/4, in a chromatic F major. The first cello changes constantly among bass, tenor and treble clef and reaches the E-flat at the top of the treble staff, with syncopated sixteenth-note lines, dotted rhythms, pizzicato and duplets and quadruplets against 6/8. The second cello part is easier and stays in the bass clef, with staccato double stops, running sixteenth-note bass lines, pizzicato and a short measured tremolo.
Technical focus
- Accidentals
- Dotted Rhythms
- Double Stops
- Ensemble Skills
- Meter Changes
- Pizzicato
- Rubato
- Shifting
- Syncopation
- Tempo Changes
- Tenor Clef
- Treble Clef
- Tremolo
- Triplets