2020 has already been a productive year for the Cello Expressions Sheet Music Library. After publishing over a dozen copyrighted pieces in January, I located several older pieces and a few new works for publishing this spring. Combined with cleanup of older lower-quality arrangements, the overall quality of cello music available in the library is substantially improved. The additions feature a wide variety of instrumentations, expanding the repertoire available from cello solos through cello choirs. This post highlights the new cello music available for the first time in 2020.
Six Concrete Canoes for Cello Duet
Six Concrete Canoes is my first choral composition, which premiered in April 2017 in a performance by the USC University Chorus. This April 2016 composition reflects on my role on the USC Concrete Canoe team from 2012 – 2016, where I contributed to building six concrete canoes. I first arranged the piece for cello duet later in 2016 but never performed it. I revisited the cello duet arrangement in November 2019. Final edits incorporated additional musical concepts developed in the final edition of the choral work and leveraged additional difficulty to enhance the cello-focused style. The published duet is a good follow-up to Philanthropic Reflections as a short, moderately-difficult work for cello duet.
Solo #1 for Unaccompanied Cello
I wrote a few pieces for cello solo between 2007 and 2012. But I had only ever published ensemble music until now. Revisiting my early works, I decided that this solo should be published. Labeled #1, but not the first, this solo leverages chords selectively to present an unaccompanied solo cello style. For now, it is a single three-minute-long movement. This cello solo was completed in 2011, last performed in 2012, and now published in 2020.
O Come All Ye Faithful
Fourth in an annual series of unconventional arrangements for cello trio, this arrangement transforms a traditional Christmas carol into a triumphant three-part fanfare. The simple A-B-A form presents three verses where the repeated melody is accompanied by two different patterns of arpeggios derived from melody. With a style atypical of string-instrument ensembles, this arrangement presents the cello trio similarly to a brass ensemble. I wrote this arrangement at the piano and cello in December 2019.
Rain #1 & #2
These two rain-inspired pieces were written in 2013 in the midst of California’s five-year drought. This 2020 work arranges them for cello quartet or ensemble. Each piece features an ostinato accompanied by semi-melodic material with elements of atonality. While each piece is a fragment, and they may or may not become part of a larger series in the future, this pair of vignettes work well together or separately as thematic miniatures.
Decker Rondo
Another new duet for two cellos brings us to five original cello duets in the library. Decker Rondo is a longer single-movement work than my previous duets. This cello duet takes a form similar to a rondo, alternating an interlocking two-part theme with a series of accompanied arpeggiated ostinatos. It is named for my Decker Brothers piano; this is the first piece that I composed on this instrument, beginning in 2018.
Aurelia
Cello Choirs leverage large groups of cellists to create a symphonic and almost-choral sound. Aurelia is a well-known hymn tune that lends itself to several settings for cello choir. This arrangement begins with a minimalist accompaniment of the melody followed by a progressive lower-register harmonization and a syncopated duet. The fantastic original harmonization concludes the piece with a key change to present the full range of the cello in a choir.