And the Surface Breaks for solo cello Chamber Music - Digital Sheet Music

SKU: A0.1113882

Written in 2013. Commissioned by cellist Micah Claffey and premiered by him in 2014. Studio recorded (also by Micah Claffey) in 2015. Has also been performed by Marilyn de Oliveira (Assistant Principal Cello of the Oregon Symphony) and Diane Chaplin. Duration: Around 8 minutes; one movement. Level: Great for a student recital piece; popular with college students. A rich, expressive, melodic piece written idiomatically for the cello's voice; easy for a performer to personalize. Appropriate for intermediate students, but certainly challenging enough to be of interest to professionals as well. Program Notes: This work is the third of three solo cello pieces written for Micah Claffey on pastoral/nature themes. The title refers to the surface of a body of water as one’s head breaks through after a long and strenuous swim beneath it. The core of this work is about defining the character of peace through the odyssey of a single cello’s musical voice. The peace theme starts as just a seed in the beginning; incomplete; represented by the first four notes (a pitch class: 0,4,6,7 or inverted as 0,1,3,7). The cello then plunges into tempestuous waters, but the seed is never lost throughout all the metamorphoses it goes through and all the commotion that surrounds it and this middle section becomes a time of catharsis and refinement. Finally, in the latter third of the work, the theme of peace breaks the surface in its complete form, starting out timidly, but soon climaxing to a powerful and penetrating statement and ending with a sense of relief, clarity, and renewal that exist not in spite of the tumultuous journey, but because of it. Performing Rights Organization: ASCAP Website: www.nicholasyandell.com.