Programme Notes – Into the Light

For Eight Cellos

The cello encompasses perhaps the widest emotional, timbral, dynamic and expressive range of any instrument. To be afforded the luxury of writing for eight of them was an offer I couldn’t refuse, and in this work I have attempted to enter this vast and varied sound world with a nine minute work that passes through despair and terror to illumination and triumph. I wrote this work in 2008, and the final chord is a small dedication to myself for my 50th birthday. ‘Into the Light’ was premiered at the Royal Northern College of Music with the RNCM cello ensemble in November 2008, and has since been performed by the cello section of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic orchestra and Cellophony.