Score
Three Phrases : for solo violoncello / Connor D'Netto.
Library shelf no. 784.7/DNE 3 [Available for loan]
Work Overview
Like most of the time when I'm writing, the title came first, kinda . . .
The Australian National Academy of Music had paired me up with Jack Overall as part of their ANAM Set commissioning project. In our first chat, a video call squeezed into a slightly chaotic week in early December 2023, we chatted about the usual things that tend to come up when starting on a new piece for someone: what's your favourite rep, both to play and to listen to, what kinds of non-classical music do you like, any fave pop artists, etc. I posed a question that seemed to make Jack think for a moment: what are you as a player trying to work on? Amongst his response, in my notes I wrote "longer uninterrupted shapes".
Back to the title. I'd had the phrase "a long unwieldy phrase enclosed by parentheses" in the note on my phone where I jot down ideas for quite a while - anyone that knows me well, or has had the distinct displeasure of trying to edit my writing, knows I love a long sentence, a complex structure stringing clause into clause and attempting to encase whole tangent thoughts better suited to a footnote into a parenthesis. So this as a title for something is very me, and it felt like it resonated with those ideas of longer uninterrupted shapes Jack and I had discussed.
Elsewhere in my note I had the phrases "weird conjugations" and "punctuated by silence". Jack and I had thought a suite exploring different facets of an idea over a few movements might be a nice structure, so together these became the starting ideas for Three Phrases: each movement taking some facet of grammar and syntax as a metaphor, a jumping off point, exploring or attempting to create long shapes across complex or unusual structures and without (or in spite of-) interruption.
Work Details
Year: 2024
Instrumentation: Cello.
Duration: 11 min.
Difficulty: Advanced
Written for: Jack Overall
Commission note: Commissioned by Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) for performance by The ANAM Set with funds provided by Restart Investment to Sustain and Expand (RISE) Fund.
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