(As requested, all 3 movements in one file)
Piece for solo cello, performed by a student at a Fall '07 recital. It was a fantastic performance, the cellist really got into the imagery and mood!
While writing this piece I imagined a gargoyle not of the usual grotesque
variety but instead one of grace and subtle, desolate beauty. It begins
softly in the lowest register of the cello, depicting this creature poised
stoically in the rain. There he laments in cold silence, as the cello
stretches into its upper register and mulls over several melodic and
intervallic ideas. In the second movement, as the cello settles into the
unexplored space of its middle register, he gets up and walks through a
barren stone city. Rigid and static gestures suggest him wandering
methodically through streets that all look the same. He finally approaches
a tower which he ascends, spreading his wings in a sudden show of
animation, and the cello likewise begins to briefly break from its
registeral and rhythmic constraints. As he reaches the top and looks
outward, the third movement begins. Beyond him is empty space, and he
looks out equally barren. The occasional sound of rock tumbling echoes in
the abyss, and he remains poised and still, wings spread, going nowhere;
he is stone, and he cannot fly.