Meditation
- Instrumentation
- Cello, Piano
- Composed
- 1976
- Duration
- 4'
- Publisher
- Conners Publications (per CMC); CMC loan copy RSN 15809, call no. MI 3213 H243me
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About this piece
Ronald Hannah studied composition at the University of Alberta, taught music in public schools and was the founding president of the Edmonton Composers' Concert Society [1]. His note in the score says this Meditation takes its inspiration from Diptych, a poem by the Senegalese poet Birago Diop, and that the melody comes from The Shrine of Kotje, his master's thesis work for chorus and orchestra on African poetry [2]. Marked Gently flowing, the cello carries a long A major melody with chromatic turns over soft piano chords, rises to two trilled high notes at forte, and fades to pp at the close [2]. The Canadian Music Centre lists it at RCM Grade 5, and Margaret Gay and Eve Egoyan recorded it for the 2021 PGM Audio album Ronald Hannah: Chamber Music [3][4].
Technical overview
4/4, quarter = 60, A major with many chromatic notes, bass clef throughout. Legato slurs across the bar, dotted figures, triplets and octave leaps, with shifts from first position up to fourth on the A string. Two sustained trills on high half notes at forte, hairpins from pp to f, a poco rit. and a tempo, ending on a held note at pp.
Technical focus
- Accidentals
- Collaboration with Piano
- Dotted Rhythms
- Hairpin Dynamics
- Legato
- Shifting
- Trills
- Triplets
- Vibrato