NZSM Friday Lunchtime Concert: Re-Tuned

'Re-Tuned' - works for scordatura cello by Bach, Sculthorpe & Cree Brown performed by Robert Ibell. A concert in the NZSM Friday Lunchtime series.

Bach - Suite No. 5 in C min, BWV 1011;
Sculthorpe - Requiem;
Cree Brown - The Imp and the Troll (new work).

Scordatura, or alternative tuning of stringed instruments, opens up wonderful new sounds worlds for composers, performers and audiences. It introduces new sonorities, and allows note combinations and sequences that would otherwise be unplayable.

One of the greatest scordatura works of the 18th Century is the Fifth Suite for Solo Cello by JS Bach. In this work the A string is tuned down to G, allowing otherwise difficult or impossible chords to be performed.

Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe uses a lowered C string to produce a rich, resonant bass line in his moving 'Requiem for Cello Alone', written in 1979 and based on plainsong.

This programme introduces audiences to an exciting and engaging new work by Christchurch based composer Christopher Cree Brown. In 'The Imp' the instrument has to be restrung with two A strings and two D strings, and the composer has made extensive use of microtones and harmonics. For 'The Troll' the retuning is extreme: all strings are tuned to C, with some being lowered by as much as a 6th.

This programme requires the use of three instruments.

Te Kōkī, New Zealand School of Music is a joint enterprise of Massey University and Victoria University of Wellington.