Invisible Distance (2014-15)
for solo cello and orchestra
1. Spheres
2. In the slow time of stars
3. Within darkness
Commissioned by the Vancouver Island Symphony with funding provided by the Canada Council for the Arts
Instrumentation: solo cello and 2(picc)222/4231/timp/3 perc/harp/strings
Duration: 21 min.
Invisible Distance is a meditation on the theme of isolation, whether physical, social or emotional. Following the tradition of a Romantic concerto, the soloist serves as the protagonist; however, rather than approaching the orchestra as either a complementary or conflicting element, I instead sought to create a sense of distance between the two, as if the solo cello were reaching toward something ever beyond grasp.
In the opening movement, “Spheres”, the cello begins alone; orchestral colours and harmonies gradually emerge from, develop and extend the cello's material. The soloist and orchestra, however, gradually diverge into separate musical planes throughout this increasingly turbulent movement. In the second movement, “In the slow time of stars”, the cello plays a wistful and introspective melody while the orchestra remains distant with soft, high shimmering chords. This is a gentle movement, meant to capture the ‘smallness’ of the individual with respect to the endlessness and spaciousness of a night sky filled with silent stars. The third movement, entitled “Within darkness”, begins with low, quiet tension and skittish, angular fragments in the cello. The rhythmically erratic gestures in the cello become increasingly aggressive and explosive, igniting the orchestra and building to a climactic peak.
Invisible Distance was commissioned by the Vancouver Island Symphony Orchestra with funding generously provided by the Canada Council for the Arts.