About the genesis of this project:

My new project “¡Scordatura!” was a long time in the conception, but is finally ready for performance. I have always felt very disappointed at how seldom the 5th Suite by Bach and the Kodály Sonata are performed by cellists, partly due to the difficulties associated with having to tune a cello up and down: the instrument tends not to like the to-and-fro from one pitch to another, and unless it is given enough time to settle in one tuning, the resonance is heavily affected. When I started thinking about learning the Kodály, I decided I needed to borrow a separate instrument from my usual one, so I could keep one tuned for the Kodály and still keep playing other repertoire. It then dawned on me that if I was going to have two instruments available to me anyway, I might as well pair these two fantastic pieces in the same programme, linked by the extended technique of scordatura but also by the monumental stature they hold in the Cello repertoire (Kodály was the first person to write a large-scale piece for solo cello since Bach had finished writing his Six Suites). To complement these two pieces I asked my friend the composer Òscar Colomina i Bosch whether he would write me a short piece for solo cello, using one or the other of the two tunings. It turned out that Òscar had started his own project of writing Six Microsuites, in answer to Bach, and that his project concurred perfectly with what I was asking of him. Thus it came that he produced his Microsuite No.5, where each of the six movements answers the equivalent movement by Bach. After working on it, we both agreed that the correspondences would be shown to their best if the two pieces were mixed up, i.e., if a movement of Bach was immediately followed by its equivalent in Òscar’s piece (or vice-versa), that is how they will be performed today.

Visit Òscar’s website: www.oscarcolomina.com


Performances in 2011

30th April, 20.00
Sophie's Barn, Chacombe, Banbury, OX17 2JR

Entry free, donations accepted for Sophie’s Silver Lining Fund

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1st June, 19.30
The Crypt on the Green, St James' Clerkenwell

Entry free, donations accepted for the Japanese Red Cross’ Earthquake Relief fund

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7th June, 11.00
Music Hall, Guildhall School of Music and Drama

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24th September, 20.30
Eglise Anglicane de Pau, 8 rue O’Quin

Entry free, donations accepted for Association Wa-Iba

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7th December, 13.05
St Olave's, Hart Street



Video from the September 2011 performance in Pau