When approached by cellist Cameron Crozman to participate in his project pairing Ricercari by Italian Baroque composer Domenico Gabrielli with newly composed solo cello works, I was intrigued by the possibilities. It would be my first solo string composition. The Ricercari, some of the earliest works written for solo cello, are improvisational in nature. My Quasi Cadenza also suggests improvisation with its changes of tempi, ritards and accelerandos as well as passages written without barlines that allow the cellist some freedom in the interpretation of these more open sections.

Interestingly, when I asked Cameron which Ricercar my piece would be paired with, he replied that he’d like the composers to write a solo piece and he would then pair them with Gabrielli after the pieces had been written!

My Quasi Cadenza is a virtuosic piece that opens with an exploration of the pitch A with 1/2 step glissandi into the pitch, as a pizzicato, with wide vibrato, as a natural and artificial harmonic as well as a stopped note, all within the opening statement of the piece.

After this opening, the following fast section moves into a slow, more lyrical section ending with delicate, more disjunct, high phrases played with a flautando (on the edge of the fingerboard) technique to create a flute-like sound.

The piece closes with rapid flourishes of broken chords and virtuosic runs.

Alexina Louie, O.C.