Recitative to an Absent Sky
for 'cello
By Gregory Mertl
American
American
Recitative to an Absent Sky (1999) is a dramatic monologue for solo cello, impassioned and emotionally fluid like its often highly charged operatic counterpart. Beginning in a state of restless agitation, the piece gains increasing lyricism, and subsides into a desolate quiet. Yet it explores many different emotional territories along the way. A substantial challenge to the cellist, he must articulate the work’s dramatic shape while executing passages of formidable virtuosity. Recitative to an Absent Sky was written for and is dedicated with affection to Florent Renard-Payen.
Other works by Gregory Mertl:
“All I say is that non-experts often know more than experts and should therefore be consulted and that prophets of truth (including those who use arguments) more often than not are carried along by a visions that clashes with the very events that vision is supposed to be exploring.
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--Paul K. Feyerabend, Against Method