In 2010, the festival akouphène gave Brice Catherin a carte blanche to create an "event". This was the kickstart of the project of a trilogy for cello and free ensemble. That is to say three concertos that can be played by the same cellist using a very different technique per concerto:
Winterreise, for cello with curved bow (or BACHbogen), premiered in October 2010;
Verklärte Nacht, for electric cello with live electronic treatment, premiered in November 2012;
An die Musik, for a one-cellist band, premiered in January 2014.
Von der Musik, a 10 minutes coda (ad libitum) to the trilogy, for a one-cellist-band with electronic and four string musicians, premièred in March 2014.
Besides this, each concerto contains one or more obligatory instruments: a snare drum in Winterreise, a bassoon player and a brass player in Verklärte Nacht, a string quartet in An die Musik. The expression "free ensemble" means that the orchestra part can be played by any instruments. The titles, all taken from romantic and post-romantic compositions, are referring to a certain atmosphere, a link to expression and to certain themes, and not at all to the aesthetic of the original pieces.
 A page from "Winterreise". |
 the curved bow ©Michael Bach. |
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 Old cover of the album by Mélissa Tun Tun. |
 study for the cover of the album by Mélissa Tun Tun. |
 study for the cover of the album by Mélissa Tun Tun. |
For Verklärte Nacht, the soloist plays the electric cello with live electronic treatment, entirely controlled by the soloist. Verklärte Nacht was premiered by the outstanding cellist Nicolas Deletaille, along with Ludovic Thirvaudey at the obbligato bassoon (here, bassoon and fagotino) and Christophe Schweizer at the obbligato horns (here, euphonium and bass trumpet). The rest of the orchestra: Alexandra Bellon, percussions; Anne Briset, percussions; Christophe Berthet, double bass clarinet; Carla Claros, flute; Joachim Forget, clavichord; Nathalie Huber, harmonium; d'Incise, computer; Jamasp Jhabvala, violin; Claude Jordan, flute and bass flute; Mazen Kerbaj, trumpet; Coralie Lonfat, computer; Rodolphe Loubatiere, snare drum; Lucie Mauch, spinet; Nicolas Michel, dulciane and contrabssoon; Violeta Motta, traverso and flute; David Sage, trompet; Viva Sanchez-Reinoso, voice; Christoph Schiller, spinet; Daniel Tyrrell, guitar; Gregor Vidic, baritone saxophone; Manon Widmer, guitar.
An die Musik was composed for and premiered by the pupils of the EJMA (Jazz School of Lausanne, Switzerland). The part of the soloist is written for a "one-cellist-band", that is to say one musician playing more than thirty instruments. The soloist is therefore an ensemble on his own. Along with him/her come a string quartet that either play or conduct the free ensemble and a few members of the audience. Before the piece starts, a few slide whistles have been distributed to these members of the audience. The full recording of the second concert (Galpon, Geneva, 15th of February 2014) is available for money (CD) and for free (online streaming) right here. As a mise-en-bouche, here are the last ten minutes of the premiere (EJMA, Lausanne, Switzerland, 26th of January 2014) with:
Von der Musik is a ten minutes coda to the trilogy of concertos. It can be played on its own or after having played the three concertos in a row. It is written for a one-cellist-band and four string players. It was premièred on the 10th of March 2014 at the Théâtre de la Comédie (Geneva, Switzerland) by the composer (electric cello, drums, clavichord, guitar, recorder, etc.), as well as Simos Papanas, Matthias Müller, Katya Polin and Ira Givol all playing on one single cello.
Discography
Download for free on Pan y Rosas.
An die Musik contains the last episode of my trilogy for cello and ensemble. It's available on Drone Sweet Drone records.