Elinor Frey GUIDED BY VOICES

This project of commissioning new music for Baroque cello began with the birth of a new instrument. I had commissioned a five-string cello – made in Montréal in 2012 by Francis Beaulieu – and wanted to expand my use of the five- string instrument beyond its few famous pieces (J.S. Bach’s sixth suite, for example). 

This led to a new work by Scott Godin and then to pieces from Isaiah Ceccarelli and Ken Ueno. In a sense, I had the same desire to expand my use of the (now more standard) four-string Baroque cello, an instrument that I was using to perform mostly Early Music until this commissioning project took flight. When modern composers write a new piece for “Baroque” cello (whether four- or five-string) it becomes an instrument of today, helping to expand the sound worlds of both the cello and new music audiences. For the works written for four-string Baroque cello by Linda Smith, Maxime McKinley, and Lisa Streich, I also used a new instrument, made by Karl Dennis in 2018, and on both cellos a bow by Pieter Affourtit made in 2016. 

The project showcases the cello’s non-standard sizes and non-standard tuning of the strings, as well as the instruments themselves, made by living artists. Indeed, playing new music on new instruments were the norms for 17th- and 18th- century performers. Each work reveals the cello’s incredible versatility and remarkable colours, capable of inspiring some of today’s outstanding composers. Dedicated to Maxime McKinley with gratitude for your humour and kindness. (Elinor Frey)

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