Cello Music

RESONANCE
Groups II, III

RESONANCE
Group IV

Paul Christopher – Cello

RESONANCE was the first composition to utilize groups as a largescale organizational tool. Each of the five groups that comprise the piece contains its own fixed-pitch set.

Group I is divided into three sections, each characterized by a different texture.

In Group II the movement’s lyricism provides a contrast to the dramatic opening and serves as a bridge to Groups III and IV.

The central body of RESONANCE is built around two related groups. Group III is the most concentrated movement in the piece wherein each fixed pitch is assigned its own dynamic as well as mode of attack.

The fixed pitches of Group IV are also assigned specific dynamics and modes of attack; however, these are varied from the previous movement.

The longest movement of the piece, Group V begins with a single line cast unwaveringly in tempo. The group develops with the pulsed notes increasingly interrupted by recurring single pitch points set in contrasting tempos. As the points accumulate their apposition to the pulse notes form a time polyphony within a complex system of imbedded repeats. The temporal layers become increasingly intertwined before unraveling and collapsing into a single, concluding pitch.

Carole Rabinowitz – Cello ᶜ
Paul Christopher – Cello ᴾ

The KAFKAMUSIK Suite is a programmatic instrumental cycle based upon the writings of Czech-born, German-language writer Franz Kafka. Part I of the Suite is scored for clarinet, violin, guitar, and cello. The five pieces for solo cello make up the second half of the suite.

Kafka wrote “The Stoker” as the opening chapter of his first novel Amerika. In it, a young man is sent by boat from his home country in Europe to America. The music reflects his initial impressions of the frenetic pace of the new world as the slow-moving ship arrives in New York.

“Report to an Academy” is the account of a narrator speaking at an academic conference, of his former life as an ape. The lyrical setting for cello suggests the incongruity of the story’s premise.

“Description of a Struggle” is one of Kafka’s earliest works. Comprised of three discrete chapters the structure of the story is fragmented. The music follows the broken narrative set in three rapidly alternating sections, interrupted by a static caesura in harmonics before the closing recapitulation.

Consisting of only a few sentences, “Absent-Minded Window Gazing” is one of Kafka’s shortest works. The pointillistic cello setting mirrors the terseness of the text.

“A Hunger Artist” is considered one of Kafka’s finest works. The eponymous central character sits alone in his bare cage on display at a circus. His capacity for unremitting fasting is a performance art that only he understands. The music explores the opposing themes of isolation and public spectacle.

Deidre Emerson – Cello

Music for Cello is an ongoing series of pieces written for solo cello. Currently there are five works in the collection. The overriding structure of the cycle unfolds as a series of schematic imprints; a design whereby a composition’s formal structure is repeated or imprinted in successive pieces.

Music for Cello 1 consists of 5 sets of fixed pitches divided into 5 groups. The individual groups are related by pitch juxtapositions and real-time correlations. Groups I and V, which share the same the same fixed-pitch set, serve as the principal foundation for the inner movements. Groups II, III, and IV contain their own fixed-pitch sets with group III subdivided into two juxtaposed sets of five and seven. The structure of each of the 5 groups in Music for Cello 1 is then imprinted and repeated in Music for Cello 3 and Music for Cello 5; however, the corresponding individual pitch sets vary slightly.

Carole Rabinowitz – Cello

Cast in seven sections, Music for Cello 2 is also comprised of 5 fixed-pitch sets but has a different overall structure than Music for Cello 1, 3, and 5. In Music for Cello 2, group III, comprised of two fixed-pitch sets, is divided into five sections, and dispersed throughout the piece. Although the shortest movement, group III’s periodic appearance lends the work a distinct formal design. The structure of each of the 5 groups in Music for Cello 2 is then imprinted and repeated in Music for Cello 4 with slight variances in the corresponding pitch sets.

Deidre Emerson – Cello

In the Music for Cello 3 imprint, the pitch range contracts in groups I, II, and IV as compared to the Music for Cello 1 scheme. However, in groups III and IV the range is expanded. The individual pitch sets in each group vary slightly from Music for Cello 1.

Deidre Emerson – Cello

Of all the pieces in this series, Music for Cello 4 stands apart in several important ways. First, it is not a direct schematic imprint of Music for Cello 2. There are subtle alterations in the original structure as well as slight metric changes that recur throughout. As well, the cyclical occurrence and rhythmic variance of Group III provides the piece with an air spontaneity and unpredictability.

Deidre Emerson – Cello

The pitch range in the Music for Cello 5 schematic imprint remains the same as # 3 in groups I, IV, and V. The range of groups II, and III are contracted from the same groups as Music for Cello 3. The individual pitch sets in each group vary somewhat from those in Music for Cello 1 and 3.

Music for Cello I
Group IV

RESONANCE

Recorded 2012
First Avenue Sound, Franklin, TN
Engineered by David Hall
Additional recording by Brad Bass

KAFKAMUSIK Suite

Recorded 2013
First Avenue Sound, Franklin, TN
Engineered by David Hall
Additional recording by Brad Bass

Music for Cello I, III, IV, V

Recorded 2018
Uno Mas Studio, Brentwood, TN
Engineered by David Hall

Music for Cello II

Recorded 2015
First Avenue Sound, Franklin, TN
Engineered by David Hall

All titles mixed by David Hall, mastered by Benny Quinn
All works composed by Mark Prince Lee
Produced by Mark Prince Lee
© 2022 Leerstelle Music

Compression Pt. I
Group I

Compression Pt. I
Group XII

Deidre Emerson – Cello

Compression for solo cello makes up Part I of the four-part instrumental cycle for clarinet, viola, and cello by the same name. Divided into twelve groups, each movement of Part I consists of 6 fixed pitches set over 40 measures, with a duration of 2’ 14” each.

The overriding structure of Compression for solo cello evolves as a series of schematic imprints; a design whereby a composition’s formal structure is repeated or imprinted in successive pieces.

Group I is divided into three sections of 13, 21, and 6 measures, respectively. Measures 1 through 13 introduce the first four fixed pitches and establish the opening structural scheme in three 4 measure blocks punctuated by a single block in measure 13. The final two fixed pitches appear in the central and longest section of the piece organized around two internal repeats. The final six measures freely recombine the 6 fixed pitches and close the group. The 40-measure design of Group I is then imprinted and repeated in Groups II through XII.

The 12 discrete, 6-note, fixed-pitch groups of Compression for cello are all derived from the opening group, and arranged into two blocks of six. All 12 fixed-pitch groups share a correlated intervallic relationship, providing the work a distinct and cohesive harmonic ambiance. However, the intervallic sequence between the 6 pitches in any group is never repeated within the course of the piece.

Paul Christopher – Cello

3R and 2R are composed utilizing a large-scale organizational structure referred to as a region. Just as groups are used as a tool in organizing individual movements within a work-as applied in Resonance, Music for Cello, and Compression Pt. I-3R and 2R are comprised of broad, temporal zones termed regions.

The internal construction of 3R and 2R is generated by dynamic form. In opposition to the role of imbedded repeats or schematic imprints whose internal systems are built around repetition, dynamic form resists reiteration and operates as a multi-directional open form, precipitous and unpredictable in its development. In this process, the musical event horizon is perpetually external to work’s structure, proximate but inaccessible. The arrangement of individual lines, layers, blocks, and rapid pulse formations within the large-time regions of 3R and 2R represents but one compositional outcome within an array of potential realizations.

Region I
52 – 54 – 57.5 – 63 – 70