Abstract
Caught Between (for cello and piano) By Stephen Goss 1 Sharjah 3 2 Alba 9 3 Fractured Loop 10 4 Nocturne in Blue and Silver 15 5 Precipitato 18 Caught Between was commissioned by Thomas Carroll and Graham Caskie with funds from the 2011 Guildford International Music Festival. The first performance took place at the festival on 14th March 2011. Programme note Caught Between inhabits the cracks between arrangement, appropriation, composition and improvisation. All five pieces are based on music borrowed from elsewhere. The cello line for Sharjah draws on a Robert Fripp track and the piano part for Fractured Loop is built out of re-ordered cuttings from a Pat Metheney solo. In Alba and Nocturne in Blue and Silver, which refer to Erik Satie and Miles Davis respectively, the borrowings are more subtle. Contrastingly, in Precipitato the pianist is asked to perform the final movement of Prokofiev’s Piano Sonata No.7 while the cellist plays a new obligato part over the top. Performance notes In Alba, the given piano part indicates the underlying harmony. The pianist is at liberty to flesh out the chords and improvise a fuller accompaniment. When the piece repeats, the cellist should drop out until letter B so that the pianist can take a solo. The rhythm in Nocturne and Blue and Silver is very flexible. The notation merely gives an idea of what might work. The cello part for Precipitato is designed as an obligato for the finale of Prokofiev’s 7th piano sonata. When writing the piece, I was working from the Boosey & Hawkes edition, which appears in volume 2 of Prokofiev’s Sonatas for Piano (B&H 20709, 1985). Acknowledgements Caught Between was a collaboration between the composer and the performers. I would like to thank cellist Thomas Carroll and and pianist Graham Caskie for their significant creative input into the project.