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Praha (1991) |
In comparison with Dark Ages, a previous work using Frances-Marie Uitti's two bow technique, praha involves a more radical ôreconceptionö of the instrument: the ôunderbowö is played, exclusively with the wood, on two C strings (one in place of the usual A string, which itself replaces the absent D string) tuned to B flat and B, while the ôoverbowö is left with the adjacent G and A strings. The form of praha is largely concerned with microscopic perturbations in a fragile web of pianissimo sound, inscribed faintly on this prepared surface, on four interacting levels: the two bows (whose vertical positions are independent of one another), and the action of the left hand on each pair of strings associated with each bow. praha was written while travelling around eastern Europe in the early autumn of 1991; its conception, which occurred suddenly as dawn broke over Prague, is perhaps connected with looking the previous day at the faded drawings of children from Theresienstadt - like children's drawings from anywhere else, except for the occasional appalling detail accentuated by its matter-of-fact depiction. Paul Celan: "es sind / noch Lieder zu singen jenseits / der Menschen."
© Richard Barrett November 1993