David Schneider Music

Rosin and Varnish

for cello and string orchestra, with optional continuo (2002-2003), 6′
Commissioned by cellist Joyce Geeting.

Performed at Indiana University, April 2004.

Program note:

Rosin and Varnish is an intentional anachronism. The piece begins as a straightforward Baroque concerto, alternating ritornello and solo passages. I did my best to imitate Bach, but of course I can never be Bach, and indeed soon enough the piece begins to go off in odd directions. Novelties of harmony, rhythm, and instrumental color all begin to pull the music out of the 18th century and towards our own time. The piece turns out to be a freewheeling and often whimsical treatment of the Baroque concerto, with echoes of 14th-century polyphony, 19th-century angst, 20th-century minimalism, and Latin-American dance music.