Suite for Solo Cello, Prelude (Winter 2007)                                     - Patrick Chan

            Written for and dedicated to cellist Cole Tutino, the Prelude is the first movement to a six-movement work, which attempts to set the ground for the following movements. When one talks about or thinks about composing a cello suite, inevitably, he has to look at J. S. Bach's set of six cello suites. With them, the master defined the genre. After Bach, there comes one of the most successful cooperation of music history - Benjamin Britten and the cellist Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich. It is in Britten's scores that I found my direct model or guide.

            The Prelude is a very rhapsodic piece. I have made use of mostly the lower and more resonant registers of the cello and what we call double and triple-stops on the cello, where the cellist has to play on two, three or four strings at a time. When playing low with two or more strings, the listeners immediately notice the richness of the cello and are amazed by the strong overtones it can produce. This invites the listeners to hear a cello ensemble instead of a soloist. Besides, the piece is very chromatic; one should focus on the return of gestures or rhythmic pulses instead of melodies in order to follow with the imagination of the cellist.