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.
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.
