Clair – obscur

Konzertstück for cello and string orchestra

Clair-obscur, why this title and why Konzertstück for a concertante work with the characteristics of a concerto for string soloist?

First of all, I must confess to a pictorial reference and a taste for the 17th-century painters who enriched the “chiaroscuro” school. I’m thinking in particular of Caravaggio, La Tour and especially Zurbarán, who made such an impression on me in Spain at the Monastery of Guadalupe.

It was in memory of all this that I imagined my Konzertstück. The contrasts of vivid and sometimes violent colors are translated into music by contrasts of intensity of movement, of sometimes dreamy, often vehement, even violent characters, which create the form of this one-movement piece, hence the subtitle Konzertstück.

The solo instrument is king, bearing the full weight of the intended musical-pictural diversity. Brilliant, virtuoso, in osmosis with the string orchestra, with which it must be at one throughout the work. The cello is first and foremost the tone and driving force of a music that always remains expressive.

The Konzertstück was written after I had heard Damien Ventura and appreciated his technique, his solo presence, his sound and his musicality. It is therefore to him that I think for the creation of this work and that I hope the greatest success for this creation with string orchestra.

Charles Chaynes