Les Sarabandes (2013)

Performers can choose to present fewer than five compositions. If all five are performed, the order given below is the preferred one.

The current version is a reworking of an earlier composition with the same title. The first version was the result of many years of fascination with the Sarabandes composed by JS Bach for keyboard instrument(s) and for solo cello. Through playing and analysing these remarkably rich works, I learned many important things about meter and rhythm, things that I cannot imagine learning from a lesser master. Of course, absorbing these works was not merely technical – it was in the first instance the striking expressive worlds created inside me through these compositions that sustained (and is still sustaining) my relationships with the Sarabandes of JS Bach.

1. Sarabande 1 & Double (c. 3’00”)
2. Sarabande 2 & Double (c. 3’00”)
3. Chorale (c. 48”)
4. Cadenza & Sarabande 3 (c. 3’20”)
5. Epilogue: Sarabande 4 (c. 1’00”)

Total duration: 12 minutes