Paul Christopher, cello
Thursday, February 20, 2025, at 5:30 pm
Magale Recital Hall
Natchitoches, Louisiana
PROGRAM
Deborah Parker (Aria per Violoncello, 1987) .... Sylvano Bussotti (1931-2021)
2R (1986, rev. 2019-2020) .... Mark Prince Lee (b. 1958)
Fantasia for Solo Cello (2018) .... Allen Shawn (b. 1948)
2R PROGRAM NOTES by Mark Prince Lee
2R serves as Part IV of the instrumental cycle Radiate for alto flute, bass clarinet, percussion, violin, and cello. The piece is organized around four parameters: pitch, tempo, dynamics, and mode of attack. These parameters play an important role in the work's formal design.
Pitch - A primarily chromatic, 12-note fixed-pitch set serves as the basis for Part IV of the cycle. As 2R unfolds, ten of the pitches are transposed up, on at a time, one or two octaves until the piece concludes with a repositioned 10-note set.
Tempo - The piece contains four primary tempos, each assigned to one of the four dynamics: ff, f, mf, pp. One of the tempos with corresponding dynamics is also assigned to one of two specific modes of attack. A basic quarter note pulse of 54 is used for the molto sul tasto sections throughout the piece. However, the molto ponticello sections are expressed as a proportion of the basic pulse with changes as the piece develops.
Structural Design - R2 is formally organized into two broad regions dividing the piece into two approximately equal halves. Region I is temporally centered around a quarter note pulse of 86. Region II is centered around a quarter note pulse of 72. Throughout R2, the two base tempos and mode of attack tempos are intermingled, frequently interrupted by sporadic, metric subdivisions which emerge as a temporal sub-structure. The differing sections are fractured into layers and juxtaposed with increasing irregularity. Oppositional segments assimilate into contrapuntal time blocks where they cease to follow any discernable linear course, creating a friction in the time-flow of the piece. In the central section of the second region, the individual segments begin to unravel, and the time polyphony disperses. 2R closes with a final distillation of these disparate elements into a single musical unity expressed in the concluding lines of the piece.
