HELLAWELL
A Frieze and A Litany
for Solo Cello
ISSUU Version
For perusal only
ISSUU Version For perusal only
PIERS HELLAWELL
A Frieze and A Litany for Solo Cello
ISSUU Version
For perusal only
ISSUU Version For perusal only
Programme Note
This set of two related pieces for solo cello takes its title from the poem Man of Assynt by Norman MacCaig. It was written for Robert Irvine as part of his UNICEF solo cello project in 2015, and was premiered by him on 22nd October 2016 in Migvie Church, Aberdeen.
Tempi throughout are fluid, unmarked and unhurried.
A Litany requires a tuning-fork, preferably one with tubular ‘limbs’ rather than those with square edges. The player is required to change from arco to the tuning-fork and back, a transition covered by l.h. pizz. open strings, which can be repeated ad lib. during the change. For the tuning-fork tremolo passages, the two prongs of the fork are ‘scissors’ either side of the portion of string – first beyond the bridge (from tail toward bridge), then on the C string, from bridge toward finger-board. The most even tremolo is needed.
Piers Hellawell, 2017
ISSUU Version
For perusal only
ISSUU Version For perusal only
Unhurried(durationsarerelativeandapproximate;q=c.60
Floating,senzamisura
(durationsarerelativeandapproximate;q=c.60
ISSUU Version For perusal only
(L.H.pizz)
Likeachant-nottoberhythmicallymarkedbutflowing,unhurried consord.
(L.H.pizz)
swapbowfor Y-tuningfork
TremoloonCbeyondbridge, startingattailandmoving backtowardbridge:string shouldbebetweenprongsof tuning-fork
mp(dim.anienteastuning-fork approachesbridge) (replacetuning-fork withbow) arco
[Cscanrepeatadlibtocover junctionswithtuning-fork]
ISSUU Version For perusal only
TremoloonCsulpont, startingatbridgeandmoving slowlybacktowardfinger-board: stringshouldbebetweenprongs oftuning-fork
ISSUU Version
For perusal only
ISSUU Version
For perusal only
ISSUU Version For perusal only
Piers Hellawell
Piers Hellawell (b. 1956) has worked with leading artists such as the LSO, Schubert Ensemble, Dame Evelyn Glennie and the Hilliard Ensemble, who toured his Hilliard Songbook pieces worldwide. Orchestral works include Cors de chasse (for Håkan Hardenberger, Jonas Bylund and the Philharmonia Orchestra) and the BBC commission Dogs and Wolves (2006), while Syzygy was premiered in 2013 by the Stockholm Chamber Brass/Swedish Chamber Orchestra. 2016 saw Hellawell’s Wild Flow commissioned for the BBC Proms, and a UK tour of Up by the Roots – a collaboration with poet Sinéad Morrissey – as well as a composer feature at Detroit’s Great Lakes Festival. Hellawell has been Professor of Composition at Queen’s University of Belfast since 2002, and has spoken widely on issues of music and cultural ownership as Gresham Professor of Music in London, 2000–2003.
Piers Hellawell (*1956) hat mit vielen namhaften Künstlern und Ensembles zusammengearbeitet, u.a. mit dem London Symphony Orchestra, dem Schubert Ensemble, Evelyn Glennie und dem Hilliard Ensemble, das seinem Hilliard Songbook zu internationaler Bekanntheit verhalf. Zu Hellawells Orchesterwerken zählen Cors de chasse (für Håkan Hardenberger, Jonas Bylund und das Philharmonia Orchestra), das BBC-Auftragswerk Dogs and Wolves (2006) sowie Syzygy, das 2013 von Stockholm Chamber Brass und dem Swedish Chamber Orchestra uraufgeführt wurde. 2016 entstanden Wild Flow für die BBC Proms sowie Up by the Roots – ein Gemeinschaftsprojekt mit der Dichterin Sinéad Morrissey, das bei Konzerten in ganz Großbritannien und Nordirland zur Aufführung kam. Im gleichen Jahr bildete sein Schaffen einen Schwerpunkt des Great Lakes Festival in Detroit. Hellawell ist seit 2002 Professor an der Queen’s University in Belfast. Von 2000 bis 2003 hatte er die Londoner Gresham-Professur für Musik inne und setzte sich bei seinen Vorträgen mit Fragen des kulturellen Eigentums in der Musik auseinander.
Photo © Brian Morrison