Voice and Cello I   (2005)

Soprano, Cello

Premiered at Yale University, December 2005, by Mellissa Hughes, soprano, and Ezra Seltzer, cello

(excerpt)

Program Note

I have been interested in some time in music for the wordless human voice. Reduced to mere syllables and phonemes, the voice becomes an instrument capable of tremendous sonic and timbral variety that nonetheless retains a distinct element of direct human projection. This work presents to the performers the challenge of attempting to blend their essentially divergent sounds, at times functioning almost as though they were a single instrumental entity, at others exploiting their innate contrasts in attack and timbre.