Monologue
feelings of loneliness & desire for self-expression
This work, written for cellist Juliet Wolff, was conceived at the very beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. Suddenly separated from our musician colleagues, Juliet and I decided to collaborate on a boundary pushing, self- accompanied work for vocalizing cellist. I was inspired by the work of Latvian composer Peteris Vasks; in particular his marriage of the voice and cello. I explored this sound world and set out to find vowel sounds that best blended with the cello’s resonant quality; the result was that the voice acts as an extension of the cello and seemingly sounds like one unified, haunting but beautiful instrument. The title, ‘Monologue’ indicates that the music should sound as natural as speech. There are many flourishing, gestural episodes but equally, many moments of rest. Throughout the pandemic, I have been very aware of my own thoughts and after spending a considerable amount of time alone in quarantine, the musical ‘speech’ patterns represent the dichotomy between feelings of loneliness but also the desire for self-expression.