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Sonatas for Solo Cello no. 1 and 2.

by julian Broadhurst MSEP

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Sonatas for Solo Cello - nos, 1 & 2 - Music for Strings Electronics and Percussion, MSEP 22 - my 97th album. The first two of my four Cello sonatas - Rh 371 and 381 - in four and five movements.


”Unnerving and beautiful.” - Professor Ken Hesketh - Professor of Composition at the Royal College of Music London and British Contemporary Composer. 7th November 2016.


Sonata for Solo Cello no. 1 in four mvts - Rh 371

Sonata for Solo Cello no. 2 in five mvts - Rh 381


Sonatas and Studies - The W period.


A name I gave to this general period of my music - a short but important period I documented over Six Albums - albums for Solo Drum and for Solo Cello. What connects them is the place they were recorded - the W Studio.

[] Album 094 - Dm 14 - - - for Drum

[] Album 097 - MSEP 22 - for Cello

[] Album 098 - Dm 15 - - - for Drum

[] Album 099 - MSEP 23 - for Cello

[] Album 100 - Dm 16 - - - for Drum

[] Album 103 - Dm 17 - - - for Drum

There is a Gordian knot of relationships between these Albums whose material was recorded on a number of sessions at the W Studio early in 2009 - as ‘dance studies’ and as solo recordings. Drum Sonatas, Cello Sonatas, Drum studies, Cello studies, and The 19 W Dance studies for Dancer-Choreographer Joanna Leah Geldard. The W studio being space in a former church whose acoustics are phenomenally rich.

I had been interested in Dance and was looking for a choreographer to create a Dance score for my large electronic piece Beriom 10 and the name and reputation of Joanna Leah Geldard came to the fore. We met and she was interested in trying to make a stage work with my ‘Tape’ Beriom 10.

Unfortunately after numerous sessions no final work emerged. We did though form the experimental Duo ‘Etuda’ - releasing two albums on my DCM label - ‘[] Percussion W’ and ‘[] Intonation W’ - W after the Dance studio we used. Also from our percussion and Dance sessions I drew a set of pieces I called the W Dances, split between three albums - ‘[] Drum music 15, 16 and 17.’

There are then two kinds of W studio recordings - here - one with Joanna - who introduced me to the Studio in the first place and a second for my solo work, in that period in 2009 and in the years that followed. The first actual fruit being our two Etuda Albums. I then take a break - to record the album [] Blue Dark Marine for my Em genre and even before I finish that - I’m Back in the W studio. This time I’m on my own - a development - mentally and musically. Playing for Joanna has led me back to the W studio and into a very rich musical period beginning with the Drum Sonata no 8 which followed immediately by - the first Cello sonata. I feel it is necessary to trace that progression - the richness of the W acoustic led me to new ground. I call this whole time ‘Sonatas and studies’ or my ‘W Period.’


- From my Etuda Collaboration -

[] Album Etuda 1 - Intonation W

Intonation W - a Collage for voices.

[] Album Etuda 2 - Percussion W

Two souls percuss the acoustic.

There is an Etuda 3 recording in my Arkiv Box - my 14 disc Archive - ‘a Box of Delights’ is my album number 113.


- And then it was my time -

Watch the Rh numbers for a works chronology.

[] Album Dm 14 - Fourth Inventions for Djembe and Sonata for solo Drum no. 8.

Drum Sonata No. 8this new generation of sonatas for Solo Drum that plays upon the W studio acoustic. My first solo use of that sound. Here coupling with the Fourth Inventions for Djembe. It finds itself ruled in the Inner Blue album group - whereas the rest of these albums - in this study - are ruled into the Outer blue Album Group by happenstance alone.

[Fourth Inventions for Djembe - Rh 359 - 364].

Sonata for Solo Drum no 8 - Rh 370 - in five movements.

[] Album MSEP 22 - Sonatas for Solo Cello nos. 1 and 2

Sonata for Solo Cello no. 1 - Rh 371 in four mvts.

Sonata for Solo Cello no. 2 - Rh 381 in five mvts.

[] Album Dm 15 Sonata for Solo Drum no. 9

Drum Studies [W] nos. 1 to 6 - Rh 369, 376 - 380

Six Studies from the W studio sessions. Notice no. 1 - Rh 369 was recorded before the Dm Sonata no 8. I drew these Studies together into 6 as a set.

W Dances nos. 1- 5 - Rh 382 - 386.

A classic example of drawing suites from recorded music. In this case recorded live for Joanna Leah to dance to, for us - a week or so before - really playing the acoustics. However, Etuda [our Contemporary Duo] Split when Joanna left and this I felt was my music. So I had nineteen pieces - which I would collect over three Dm albums. As if confusion wasn’t enough - two of these are for Cello. They stand as a memory of an interesting time and someone I wont forget. You can hear her voice on the tapes.

Sonata for Solo Drum no. 9 - Rh 389

Notable for its use of a wooden pole with the gorgeous natural acoustic, including my throwing it to the floor at the end. That klang, being part of the music - as an extended gesture of the performance.

[] Album MSEP 23 Sonatas and Studies for Solo Cello. The album that names the whole period for me - a short but intense creativity - the ‘Sonatas and Studies.’

Sonata for Solo Cello no.3 - Rh 392 - in four movements.

Six Studies for Solo Cello - Rh 372 - 375, 394 and 395

I would often refer to my Visual Art works as studies - here to focus my attention on the sound. The suite is drawn from several places - the Rh Catalogue numbers show that compilation. Six here to parallel my Drum Studies.

Sonata for Solo Cello no. 4 - Rh 393 - in one movement.

Recorded at the same session as no. 3 - it’s tiny at 7 minutes but it is full of itself and packs of a lot of thought in.

The W Dances no. 7 and 8 - Rh 387 and 388.

Two Oddballs tucked in at the end. They are part of the W Dances set I spoke of - for / with Joanna but this time a lick of cello.

[] Album Dm 16 W Dances 8 - 14

The body of the W Dances - performed for Joanna Leah [Geldard] - the Dancer Choreographer - now distinguished Artist Dr. Leah. I have spoken at length about our Collaboration as Etuda, and my performing with her as she danced. I recorded my performances - and I chose to document them as part of my Drum Work.

The W Dances 8 - 14.

WD no. 8 - - Rh 397 - Automatic Dance
WD no. 9 - - Rh 398
WD no. 10 - Rh 399
WD no. 11 - Rh 404 - Window Dance
WD no. 12 - Rh 405 - Stair Dance 1
WD no. 13 - Rh 406 - Stair Dance 2
WD no. 14 - Rh 407 - Combination Dance

Her titles - we hear her voice on them.

Drum Studies nos. 7 and 8 [W] - Rh 390 and 391.

Two further slices of the [W] Studies cake following the six on the Album Dm 15 [confused ? I was - it took an age to compile these albums]. These are quite a bit later and aren’t so much a part of the others - as a little tinkle on their own - and placed here.

[] Album Dm 17 Sonata for Solo Drum no. 10 - Rh 411 - in Five Movements - the last of the W studio Generation of Drum Sonatas - nos. 8, 9 and 10.

Sonata for Solo Drum no. 10 - Rh 411 - in Five Movements is sublime in its difficulty and its subtlety. Its diminutive size really belies its importance to me as a statement of compression in my musical thought. If I had finished the series at no. 10 it could have been in itself a fitting conclusion but I had go on to 12 - the canonic 12thth much later on.

W Dances nos. 15 - 19 - Rh 412 - 417A. I conclude here the collection of the W Dances. Together they were an exciting and informative experience for us both. We settled on no. 18 as the score to a dance piece - no. 19 is that scrubbed up - with a somewhat pretentious title.

WD no. 15 - Rh 412
WD no. 16 - Rh 413
WD no. 17 - Rh 414
WD no. 18 - Rh 417 (Dance Score).
WD no. 19 - Interpreting the Void - Rh 417A

These Sets are clearly a logistical order - but here that took precedence over a true studio order - a true chronology. Here the Rh catalogue order gives that true order.

This album closes the period and closes itself with 3 unrelated Items - Vernal warning - Rh 426; Bedism - Rh 410 and ‘In line music at St Margaret’s - Rh 434. Interesting music but recorded all over and outside the scope of this Article. See that Album’s home page.

Rh 415 and 416, just to note, are a separate project called Hammermusic Album MPm 12, compiled for release immediately after Album Dm 17 - my 104th album. Just to complicate matters even more - as if that weren’t so enough for anyone - two albums protrude into the period above which don’t belong to it - Albums 101 and 102 - Dodecette and Luigi - two large scale electronic works - please see their respective pages.


The Outer Blue Album Group - MSEP Indices


An early reorganization of my music research interests had defined my music into dedicated sets of Albums. This way things of a kin got heard together - as one type of album or another - by Genre - or Tranche as I styled them. In this Case Music for Strings Electronics and Percussion, MSEP a genre of Electro acoustic composition. By Convention MSEP.

Beginning as a percussionist my first 7 albums are for Drums of various kinds, Drum music or Dm, my first area of research interest or Tranche. I soon realised there was a second area of percussion, as a generality over a specialism - percussion on anything other than Drums, Metal Percussion music, or MPm. The third of five is the Phase music, realised by tape looping and timing, Phm. The fourth, a genre of Electro Acoustic composition, Music for Strings, Electronics and Percussion, or MSEP. The last genre is Electronic music, Em, taking the longest processing detour from an original acoustic source.

Album numbers 96 to the End form my Fifth ‘Group’ - a 5th time division across my Genres, my Outer Blue Group. The End being what it will be, but I have no plans, at the time of writing, in August 2020, to number any further albums, the given End being 142. This all builds on the foundational 'Blue Cherry Group' [where I had introduced my 5 areas of research interest] and the big 'New Horizon Group' - [where I explored to see where these five genres were leading me]. There then seemed to be a ‘band of gold’ across my discography. My Golden Band Group, that mark a particularly successful time for me. The albums that follow that, 76 to the End, are a ‘Blue Horizon’ - after the phrase ‘blue sky research’ - the ‘Blue Horizon Group.’ For convenience, I divided this Huge area into the Inner and the Outer Blue. So my Fourth Group is the Inner Blue Group. Then a Fifth and last Group builds upon that - my outer Blue Horizon - or Outer Blue Group.

There are 15 MSEP albums in the Outer Blue Group - MSEP 22 - 36.

[] Albums MSEP 22 and 23 are my 4 Sonatas and Studies for Solo Cello - which together with the albums of Sonatas and Studies for Solo Drum form a period I call ‘Sonatas and Studies.’ All recorded in the wonderful W Studio acoustic - hence also ‘The W Period.’

[] Album MSEP 24 Luigi is the last part of my huge Nono Series - it finally comes to ground at album 102. Just after the album 101 - the Em Album Dodecette had ended my 12 part Beriom Series. Leaving one world for another - two threads that have come right through my music. To borrow a phrase “perpetual change.” The time of my series’ is over. Now we get into a time of big Stand Alone works - four symphonies and an Opera and . . .

[] Album MSEP 25 is a massive triple album - I would say a whole other world in itself. Making use of the Isabel Ensemble to produce these two, four movement, album long, Consorts for Strings. A third disc is ‘Ring of Bright Consort’ - pushing the boundary between performance and production - between Electro acoustic [MSEP] and Electronic music [Em]. Past a need for series - ‘Big music’ stands alone.

[] Album MSEP 26 is the 63 minute outing for strings - Nabucco - om - a horizon to peruse..

[] Album MSEP 27 ‘The (rather grandly titled) Unification of light.’ Experimental beyond the last fleck of land - Symphony no. 2 is nearly five hours long. “A momentary lapse of reason” on my part ? No, we are at a Mark Rothko stage again. If anything was, these are my real Rothko tone Saturations - I reached him in music and there is nowhere left to go - I think it works though. ‘The ‘Unification of light’ - is subtitled Symphony no. 2 and that title begs an explanation. It was a grand gesture on my part - it was a meditation - the Pieces came before a title. The title is mine but thought comes from physics. Wind the evolution of the Universe back to the Big Bang - wind light back it its first moment. Such thoughts were in the air for me. It is not a description of the music though nor the music a description of the title. Rather it is A Space, a stillness - a question to ask. I have a long relationship with and adoration of Mark Rothko and have often said I could hear his surfaces as music - hence my ‘Rothko Triptych.’ The Rothko Chapel - I think of as his greatest ‘Work.’ Surfaces to meditate on and I feel that abstraction. I borrow their phrase “A Stillness that moves” - with thought and caution - not in Art - as in my earlier life but ‘now in a time of music’ [me 2006]. Perhaps in error I added the subtitle ‘Symphony no. 2’ but it stands now as a part of my life - that notion is part of the furniture. Symphony - history - agency and sound - I challenge myself to it.

[] Album MSEP 28 Sinphonia Vitae - Symphony no. 3. My ‘Symphony of Life’, is dedicated to Julian, Lucas and Flori Araya Eacock - the beautiful children of my beautiful friends Emma and Jorge. Julian - the Lamb was named after me. Part of it was played at my father’s funeral though in life he never heard it. Although it follows directly from no. 2 it is in complete contrast. Clearly in the wake of its forerunner - but opposite temperament. Here, waves of serenity wash over you. Cover Art and photo by the wonderful Jim Tetlow. A serene shot over northern Australia.

[] Album MSEP 29 Symphony no. 4 - Rh 445 - a Symphony in Name [where nos. 2 & 3 were only subtitled as such]. A symphony in Substance - in imagination and in presentation. I humbly dedicate this brooding miasma to The Master - Hans Werner Henze This is my offertory, in the String tone I adore - my meditation on music. Maybe as near to my ideal as I ever got. Here then is my soul - Rh 445. I emerge with a symphony in more than just name.

[] Album MSEP 30 Codasolo - another exploratory vision of that most cherished notion of mine an ‘Elemental String Music.' Indeed the initial lines were recorded during the D'juil sessions with Cellist David Dhonau, in his studio, for our album 'Elemental String Music'. This is then a solo offspring from those D’juil sessions. The main body of the work was done back at my Isabel studio awhile later.

[] Album MSEP 31 Symphony no 5 - fiery, thunderous, pounding, unrelenting - disturbing - the Isabel Ensemble did a fine job ! To even dare to call this a Fifth Symphony, one has a lot to live up to ‘fifth symphony’ wise. This is it though - I have nothing more. There cannot be a sixth.

[] Album MSEP 32 Organum - for self - solo cello and percussive imperative. Elemental music for the elements prescribed. I sat in a Chair in a prepared room at Isabel, somewhat in the manner of Brian Ferneyhough’s ‘Electric chair.’ The complexity though is not electronic - it is alive in my thought and response. A black chair - a grey room - the Cello - myself and my fingers. The process is in the room. Ladies and Gentlemen for one time, for once and forever.

[] Album MSEP 33 They Make Music - an opera in two acts - for voices instruments and electronics. Two children a dressing up box and instruments. New music for an old collaboration - Flautist Maureen Anderson and I as Anderson Morning - ‘AM’ - our fourth production but with a difference. This time because so much of the Concept and realisation is mine I call it a work of mine - staring Maureen, flute and Voice as Christingle to my Vladimir. I also title the work MP 4 in acknowledgement of her. I draw the process into fantasy and formality as we made music. It is a play for disguised voices where you see them dress up and play in your minds eye. Enjoy the bouncing percussion and how the voices stretch into melody. What do they say - well let that be a secret between ourselves.

[] Album MSEP 34 A little less than Kind - a second suite for Cello. Like the first suite - ‘Never Not Actually Arriving’ - it is comprised of separate movements called intonations - four this time to eight in the First Suite. The third suite however is a set of independently numbered works. A point perhaps to note.

[] Album MSEP 35 Gregorious A & B - Music for Strings Electronics and Percussion, MSEP 35 - my 142nd album. A 21st centaury take on Gregorian Chant - the A and B studio edits. Ably performed by the Isabel Voices. This is the once and forever recording of it.

[] Album MSEP 36 Entangled A B & C. In effect my 3rd suite for cello - suite in a very loose sense in that they form a collection - an Opus number if you like but they have the independence of three Rh numbers - three Acknowledged works. With this set I close my MSEP Genre or Tranche. It has served its purpose and got me where I wanted to be.

Outer Blue Group - MSEP []


DCM 096 Em 38 -- Blue Dark Marine

[] DCM 097 MSEP 22 -- Sn for Solo Vc 1, 2 []

DCM 098 Dm 15 -- Dm Sn no 9. 9

[] DCM 099 MSEP 23 -- Sn & St for S. Vc []

DCM 100 Dm 16 -- W Dan. 8 -14
DCM 101 Em 39 -- Dodecette

[] DCM 102 MSEP 24 -- Luigi []

DCM 103 Dm 17 -- Dm Sn no.10
DCM 104 MPm 12 -- Hammermusic

[] DCM 105 MSEP 25 -- Consort m. for Strs []

DCM 106 MPm 13 -- 45’23 - Mp solo
DCM 107 Dm 18 -- Zen Yen Zen
DCM 108 Dm 19 -- Metrognomics

[] DCM 109 MSEP 26 -- Nabucco - Om []

DCM 110 EM 40 -- Profusion
DCM 111 Em 41 -- Cant for P C
DCM 112 Phm 12 -- Past for wind gr.
DCM 113 Arkiv -- Arkiv
DCM 114 Em 42 -- Funeral Music

DCM 115 MSEP 27 -- TUOL [Sym 2] []
[] DCM 116 MSEP 28 -- Sin Vit [Sym 3] []
[] DCM 117 MSEP 29 -- Symphony 4 []

DCM 118 DM 20 -- Table music
DCM 119 Dm 21 -- Konnyek

[] DCM 120 MSEP 30 -- Codasolo []

DCM 121 Dm 22 -- 5th Inv for Dj
DCM 122 Dm 23 -- Drum Mantra

[] DCM 123 MSEP 31 -- Symphony 5 []

DCM 124 Dm 24 -- 6th Inv for Dj
DCM 125 MPm 14 -- Footfall A & B
DCM 126 MPm 15 -- Inv for Steel Casing
DCM 127 MPm 16 -- Imp in 4 and 3 Pts
DCM 128 MPm 17 -- Six Sns. for Metal P.
DCM 129 MPm 18 -- Inv for Industrial Unit
DCM 130 MPm 19 -- Now is N. t. T. f Dan
DCM 131 MPm 20 -- Parellelia

[] DCM 132 MSEP 32 -- Organum []

DCM 133 MPm 21 -- Perfor in Plastic
DCM 134 Em 43 -- Geut - B Version
DCM 135 Em 44 -- Vib. Blue Light
DCM Ark Em Arkiv -- What nu. Added to
DCM 136 Dm 25 -- Sn for S. Dm 11 &12

[] CM 137 MSEP 33 -- They Make Music []

DCM 138 Dm 26 -- Double Up + Per PP
DCM Ark Dm Arkiv -- Sometime Live
DCM 139 Dm 27 -- In an English Pa Ch
DCM 140 MPm 22 -- Quarlium

[] DCM 141 MSEP 34 -- A Little Less than K []
[] DCM 142 MSEP 35 -- Gregorious A & B []
[] DCM 143 MSEP 36 -- Entangled A.B & C []


The DCM album numbers list volumes in a [for the most part]
chronological edition - the ‘DCM Broadhurst Edition’ - Prepared for the British Library in 2020. The volumes or albums themselves were actually released as and when it was possible. The Edition though, was planned from the start to stand on the 'foundation Stone' of the Blue Cherry group.

The Rh catalogue, numbers my individual works in order of Completion.

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released August 15, 2014

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