Ukuvalelisa

10 Miniatures for Violoncello Solo.

1. Ouverture
2. The Storyteller
3. Her beautiful Eyes
4. Lullaby
5. Hidden Surprises
6. Darkness
7. At the Beach
8. On your own
9. A new start
10. Farewell

These pieces have come a long way! It started in 2015 when I wrote two solo suites for my friend Marcin Oleś, a double bass player from Krakow. I dedicated one of the two suites, Umbalisi mabali (The Storyteller) to my father, who died that fall and was a great father, artist, and storyteller.

At the beginning of 2019, Laura Faber from Seattle was looking for music to cope with the tragic loss of her son last year and came across Umbalisi mabali on my homepage. She asked me if I could arrange these pieces for bass flute. I reworked four pieces, composed six new ones, and named the collection Ukuvalelisa, which means "farewell" in Xhosa. The sentences are about all kinds of memories and feelings. Laura Faber wrote: "What I have experienced so intensely since my son died is that life does not fall into different episodes. There is joy in the midst of deep sadness, sudden sadness in times of joy, and quite often a wonderful and confusing one Mess. Your music shows that very well, and these solos really reflect that constant mix of emotions. " Indeed, there are the happily jubilant Ouverture, Hidden Surprises and At the Beach, the thoughtful On your Own, the tenderly loving Lullaby and Her beautiful Eyes, the melancholic darkness, the groovy storyteller and the encouraging A new start. The last piece is an attempt to say goodbye. But it's probably not really possible to say goodbye to someone who was so close and important to me and yet remained as mysterious as my father. Hence the end remains open.

After the great success of the world premiere by António Carrilho at the Sydney Conservatory in February 2020 and the success of the sheet music edition for recorder, Susanne Modrej asked me to rewrite the pieces for violoncello. Later she helped me with lines, fingerings and articulation - this edition would not have been possible without her.

The Storyteller, Her beautiful eyes, Darkness and At the beach can be played as if two different instruments were communicating with each other. While Overture, Storyteller and At the Beach have to be played in an even groove, with the other pieces you can take a lot of freedom in tempo and phrasing. Let your soul speak!

I would like to thank Laura Faber for the composition commission, Marcin Oleś, who made me write the "original versions", António Carrilho for the world premiere of the recorder version, my father, who inspired and encouraged me all my life - and above all Susanne Modrej, who not only put so much love and care into the edition, but also made this wonderful recording by Lullaby:

https://youtu.be/NuiHnvXbbv8