Gayatri Sonata
for Violoncello and Piano
(also for Viola and Piano)
Dec. 27, 2004—May 11, 2005
Fourth Edition, January 26, 2009
Duration:
about 20 minutes
Photo: first performance
Cello and Piano Recording (premiere performance)
Recording by Bonnie Thron, cello, and Nancy
Whelan, piano
(Memorial Concert for Akanda, Feb. 10, 2010, Nelson Music Room, Duke University)
The
original part and score were on legal-size paper. In 2022, I made a
letter-size edition for score and part, as well as an edition of the
cello part specifically for electronic music readers, with the part
enlarged and including reduced piano staves. The sonata comes in two
versions, one for cello and the other for viola.
Cello and Piano Version
Legal: Score Cello part Cover
Letter: Score Cello Part Cover
Electronic Music Reader edition: EMR Part
I. First Movement [6:55]
IWHWIFATBS*
*it won't hurt when I
fall off this bar stool
II. Second Movement: Gayatri Mantra
[8:12]
III. Third Movement: Rondo Cappuccino [7:13]
Git Them Toes to Tappin'
Viola and Piano Version
Legal: Score Viola part Cover
Letter: Score Viola Part Cover
Electronic Music Reader edition: EMR Part
The
middle movement is based on a setting I wrote of the Gayatri Mantra, a sacred
mantra in Hinduism from the Rig Veda, for six-string violin and baritone in 2002. I
ended up using only the melody from that original composition as the main
theme. The words in Sanskrit are:
Om Bhur bhuvah svahah Tat savitur varenyam
Bhargo Devasya dheemahi Dheeyo yo nah prachodayaat
Any
translation is highly approximate, but it is something like; “Oh Divine Beings
of all three worlds, we meditate on the glorious splendor of God. May He
himself illumine our minds.”
The
tempo marking of the first movement, “IWHWIFATBS”, stands for “It won’t hurt
when I fall off this barstool”. Notice that this lyric fits the theme…
This sonata is in memory
of my mother, Frances Vanderkooi Robinson Westman, who died in February 2005.
She played both the cello and the piano. I also had in mind during the
composition two cellists: David Vanderkooi, my uncle, and Jonathan Kramer, of
the music department here at NCSU.
The premiere performance was by Bonnie Thron, cellist, and Nancy Whelan, pianist, at Duke University in 2010.
Musician Biographies
Bonnie Thron; Principal cellist of the North Carolina Symphony, Bonnie
has been a concerto soloist with many orchestras in North Carolina, New
England, Maryland and Panama. She has been a soloist and frequent collaborator
with the Brussels Chamber Orchestra during their summer North Carolina
residencies. Bonnie plays with the Mallarme Chamber Players and was involved in
their cd release "Songs for the Soul" which consists of music
by African American composers. Formerly a member of the Peabody Trio and the
Denver Symphony, she also performed with the Orpheus Chamber Ensemble and
Speculum Musicae in NYC. She has been a frequent guest artist with the Apple
Hill Chamber Players in her home state of New Hampshire and participates every
August in the Sebago Long Lake Music Festival in Harrison, Maine. As well as
degrees from the Juilliard School, Bonnie also has a BSN from the Johns Hopkins
School of Nursing and worked for several years as a nurse in Baltimore.
Nancy
Whelan, pianist,
received her Master of Music from
Meredith College and has played professionally in the Raleigh area for
over twenty-five years. She is very active in musical theater and opera, with
the North Carolina Theater, Raleigh Little Theater, Burning Coal Theater,
University Theater, National Opera Company, the Opera Company of NC, Long Leaf
Opera, and various Broadway touring companies.
