Youtor
Acro cello solo by David Bennett Thomas
>> YOUR LINK HERE: ___ http://youtube.com/watch?v=nmqvY9BG584
I started this piece while I was sitting on a 28th floor balcony in San Antonio, Texas, overlooking the river that runs through the city. As I sketched my ideas, I was keenly aware that the balcony railing was the only thing keeping me from death, making the composing experience a little surreal and unlike any I have had. I don’t think I ever composed music in a situation in which I was so aware of my fragile mortality. • The title Acro comes from the Greek, where it means “high.” For instance, acrophobia means a fear of heights, which I was certainly feeling at the time. It also is the root of acrobatic, which was something that I was thinking about in this piece- that is, I wanted to write a piece that pushed the cellist to play creative and acrobatic gestures that I conceived while holding a cardboard cello fingerboard in my hand during months of composing. Acro is also the same letters as Arco, which means to play a stringed instrument with a bow, which applies to this music as well, as I push the player into interesting bowing techniques. In fact, the cellist to whom the piece is dedicated, Branson Yeast, remarked, “you made me play some things I’ve never played before.” I indeed wanted to stretch myself compositionally, and to push myself as far as possible in terms of what I could make the player and instrument do. • I am deeply indebted to Branson Yeast. I first heard him with the Philadelphia new music ensemble Network for New Music and immediately wanted to compose something for him. His gifts as a performer are evident in every note he plays. He is a marvelous technician and a deeply soulful player with a creative spirit to try anything, and he’s happy to lend a helping hand to composers exploring the instrument. It was joy to work with him on this piece. • If you'd like to play Acro, please send me an email through my site: https://www.davidbthomas.com • If you like this piece, here is my cello playlist: • Music for cello, by David Bennett Thomas • And here is my playlist of all of my instrumental solo and chamber pieces: • Instrumental music- chamber, solo, pi... • Recorded in Philadelphia by Tom Spiker.
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