Program notes
When Kim Cook approached me to write a cello concerto for her, I felt it was the right moment—I had been wanting to write one for some time. I was deeply honored that a world-class cellist like Ms. Cook entrusted me with this commission.
At first I considered several different directions for the piece. Kim mentioned how much she enjoyed the Latin American rhythms in my music, so I kept that in mind as I began to write. At the same time I was very concerned with the sociopolitical turmoil in my country of birth, Venezuela. Its fate and the struggle of its people were in the forefront of my thoughts.
I saw this concerto as an opportunity to give voice to that historical struggle. “Hay un Camino” (“There is a path” or “There is a way”) had become a phrase used by the opposition to a regime that, under the banner of democracy, had become totalitarian and lawless. I titled my work Un Camino (“A Path”), hoping that Venezuelans might realize that they, as a nation, need to unite and create their own way—without foreign intervention or imposed ideologies, and without losing sight of who they are and what they must do to heal their country. Of course, this is not an isolated situation; around the world we continue to witness power struggles and rampant corruption while our deepest desire remains one of peace and justice.
The piece does not follow a traditional sonata form, but one can hear recurring themes and sections reminiscent of exposition, development, and recapitulation. Its large-scale layout can be heard as: A — B — C — B’ — C’ — A’ — cadenza — coda.
Section A is a slow, introspective passage in which the cello’s theme evokes a human voice, an inner call to action. The orchestra answers with a tutti using the same material, but extroverted and urgent. Section B is highly rhythmic; the material from A is transformed and distorted, creating a dynamic, driven texture that builds as the orchestra joins the soloist.
Section C is a dance. In this dance I quote, melodically, a small fragment of the Venezuelan national anthem—specifically the words “¡Abajo cadenas!” (“Down with the chains!”). It appears in a completely different harmonic and rhythmic context from the original. This leads back to B’, a quasi-development that expands the material from B before moving into the dance material of C’.
The cello then winds down the orchestra into A’, similar to the opening but in a different key and with phrases of different lengths. In the cadenza I quote another part of the anthem— “bravo pueblo que el yugo lanzó” (“brave people who shook off the yoke”)—in the same haunting manner as at the opening. The cello recalls the dance material, the orchestra joins, and the piece drives to its conclusion.
— Efraín Amaya (2013)
Audio
Instrumentation, versions & duration
Orchestral version:
*3/*3/*3/3 — 4/2/0/0 — timpani + 3 percussion —
solo cello — strings.
Version for cello & piano: solo cello and piano
reduction.
Duration: ca. 17:30 (one movement).
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Purchase options — cello & piano version
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