Side-by-Side Concert Programs

I wanted to share a few recitals that I’ve done in an unusual format that people have really enjoyed.

New Music Decanted, established in Napa, has its concert programming based on wine-making traditions. There are
Composer Verticals - a program of all one composer
Horizontals - works from many composers in a single year
Terroir Samplings - contemporary works from one country
Barrel Tastings - premieres
Cellar Tastings - a classic work played in its entirety followed by newer related works

And my personal favorite:
Side-by-Side Pairings - pairs of works programmed together for educational purposes. What it allows me to do is present more adventurous works alongside more traditional works. Then, between every pair, I spend a minute or two talking about the similarities between the works to help them relate.

It’s usually just one thing, e.g.:
“In the Prelude to Bach Suite #3, you’re going to see a lot of slurred string crossings, and you’ll see the same thing in the 2nd movement of Saariaho’s Seven Butterflies, but they’re doing it for completely different reasons: Bach is thinking of them as chords on the cello, whereas Saariaho is trying to create extra notes in the air by playing the notes you hear really, really close together. The sound waves smack against each other to produce extra notes that you might be able to feel as a buzzing, inside of your ear. She researched these extensively using sonic spectragrams, hence she is a “spectralist” composer.

(And of course, she’s creating the visual appearance of flapping butterfly wings.)”

The recital I’m performing in March is a side-by-sde pairing, inspired by Saariaho’s own side-by-side pairing. In 2010 she commissioned 40 composers to write Variations on the earliest known work for solo cello, Colombi’s Chiacona (written 15 years before Bach was born).

The Cello Music of Kaija Saariaho

Giuseppe Colombi | Chiacona (1670)
Kaija Saariaho | Dreaming Chaccone after Colombi (2010)

Klaus Huber | Transpositio ad Infinitum (1976)
Kaija Saariaho | Spins and Spells (1996)

~ Intermission ~

Kaija Saariaho | Lullaby (2020)
Andrea Casarrubios | Seven (2020)

Kaija Saariaho | Seven Butterflies (2000)
Eric Moore | Postlude - Homage to K. Saariaho (2016)

Other Side-By-Side Programs I’ve given are:

Bach Cello Suite #1a

JS Bach | Cello Suite #1 - Prelude
Kaija Saariaho | Seven Butterflies - Mvt 2

JS Bach | Cello Suite #1 - Allemande
Martin Torch-Ishii | Reflection (2014)

JS Bach | Cello Suite #1 - Courante
Evan Premo | Echo Lake (2009)

JS Bach | Cello Suite #1 - Sarabande
Eric Moore | Song Without Words #1 (2018)

JS Bach | Cello Suite #1 - Minuets
György Kurtág | Perpetuum Mobile A - arr. Moore (1993)

JS Bach | Cello Suite #1 - Gigue
Mark Summer | Julie-O (1988)

Bach - Cello Suite #1b

JS Bach | Cello Suite #1 - Prelude
John Corigliano | Fancy on a Bach Air (1996)

JS Bach | Cello Suite #1 - Allemande
Eric Moore | Mantra #020101 (2022)

JS Bach | Cello Suite #1 - Courante
Luciano Berio | …les mots sont allés

JS Bach | Cello Suite #1 - Sarabande
Eric Moore | Mantra #070101 (2022)

JS Bach | Cello Suite #1 - Minuets
Eric Moore | Mantra #050101 (2022)

JS Bach | Cello Suite #1 - Gigue
Martin Torch-Ishii | Reflection (2014)

Bach Cello Suite #1c

JS Bach | Cello Suite #1 - Prelude
William Walton | Passacaglia (1982)

JS Bach | Cello Suite #1 - Allemande
Augusta Read Thomas | Venus Enchanted (2016)

JS Bach | Cello Suite #1 - Courante
Philip Glass | Songs and Poems: VII (2007)

JS Bach | Cello Suite #1 - Sarabande
Eric Moore | Nine Clouds (2020)

JS Bach | Cello Suite #1 - Minuets
John Corigliano | Fancy on a Bach Air (1996)

JS Bach | Cello Suite #1 - Gigue
Evan Premo | Echo Lake (2009)

Bach - Cello Suite #2a 

JS Bach | Cello Suite #2 - Prelude
Eric Moore | Mantra #070101 (2022)

JS Bach | Cello Suite #2 - Allemande
Claude Debussy | Syrinx for Solo Flute - arr. Moore (1913)

JS Bach | Cello Suite #2 - Courante
Gaspar Cassado | Suite for Solo Cello - mvt. 1 (1926)

JS Bach | Cello Suite #2 - Sarabande
Eric Moore | Mantra #100102 (2022)

JS Bach | Cello Suite #2 - Minuets
John Corigliano | Fancy on a Bach Air (1996)

JS Bach | Cello Suite #2 - Gigue
Salvatore Sciarrino | Ai Limiti Della Notte (1979)

Bach - Cello Suite #2b

JS Bach | Cello Suite #2 - Prelude
György Kurtág | Homage to John Cage - Faltering Words (1999)

JS Bach | Cello Suite #2 - Allemande
Jonathan Harvey | Chant (1994)

JS Bach | Cello Suite #2 - Courante
Anna Clyne | Rest These Hands (2009)

— Intermission —
Eric Moore | Mantra #250101 (2022)
JS Bach | Cello Suite #2 - Sarabande

Luciano Berio | Les Mots Sonts Allés… (1976)
JS Bach | Cello Suite #2 - Minuets

Bright Sheng | Seven Tunes Heard in China: VII (1999)
JS Bach | Cello Suite #2 - Gigue

Bach - Cello Suite #3

JS Bach | Cello Suite #3 - Prelude
Kaija Saariaho | Seven Butterflies: II (2000)

JS Bach | Cello Suite #3 - Allemande
Philip Glass | Songs & Poems: I (2007)

JS Bach | Cello Suite #3 - Courante
Pauline Oliveros | The New Right of Spring (1977)
  using  ello Suite no. 3: III.  ourante

JS Bach | Cello Suite #3 - Sarabande
Benjamin Britten | Solo Cello Suite #1: I. Canto Primo (1965)

György Kurtág |Kroó György in Memoriam (1998)
JS Bach | Cello Suite #3 - Bourees

JS Bach | Cello Suite #3 - Gigue
Eric Moore | Song Without Words no. 2 (2020)
or Mark Summer | Julie-O (1988)