Reich: Cello Counterpoint
Version for Cello Octet
Expected to ship in 1-2 weeks.
- Composer: Steve Reich (1936-)
- Format: Study Score
- Instrumentation (this edition): Cello Ensemble
- Originally for: Cello, Tape
- Work: Cello Counterpoint (Version for Solo Cello and Tape)
- ISMN:
- Size: 6.8 x 10.5 inches
- Pages: 72
Description
Cello Counterpoint (2003) is scored for eight cellos, and can be played by a soloist with the other parts pre-recorded. This tape is available from the Boosey & Hawkes rental library. Alternately, the piece can be played by a Cello Octet. (There are differences in distribution of parts between the two versions.) The piece is in three movements: fast, slow, fast. The first and last movements are both based on a similar four-chord cycle that moves ambiguously back and forth betwein C Minor and E-flat Major. This harmonic cycle is treated extremely freely however, particularly in the third movement. The second, slow movement, is a canon in E-flat Minor involving, near the end of the movement, seven separate voices. The piece is a little more than 11 minutes in duration, and was co-commissioned by the Koussevitzky Foundation in the Library of Congress, the Royal Conservatory in The Hague and Leiden University, for cellist Maya Beiser.