Calligraphy for solo Cello

As a composer considering the work of a figure as timeless, influential and far reaching as Bach, one is at once elevated, inspired and almost overwhelmed with an open sense of the possible in music. Yet Bach’s harmonic and contrapuntal world is in fact, a carefully defined one; one in which he is able to create for us a clear sense of the infinite; the limitless potential of life itself.

Similarly in the world of calligraphy within the strictly defined limits of brush, ink, stroke and the blank page, artists are able to draw us into a world of infinite subtlety, variation and development. Add to this the Taoist conception of nature as a pure expression of the dynamic relationships of yin and yang, or heaven and earth through which man expresses his being and there is fertile ground for musical expression.

The notion of a single instrument sounding in space seemed to fit well with a single line of ink on the open page.

In this particular case I took as my starting point an excerpt from a poem by T’ang Dynasty poet Li Po (701 - 762):

‘The Arduous Road to Shu’

Peak upon peak less than a foot from the sky,

Where withered pines hang inverted from sheer cliffs,

Where cataracts and roaring currents make noisy clamour,

Dashing upon rocks, a thunderclap from ten thousand glens.

An impregnable place like this -

I sigh and ask why should anyone come here from

far away?

To view score click here. To download score as pdf click here.