Sonata for cello and piano is a large-scale work for cello and piano duo in development, created in collaboration with cellist Miki Piszczorowicz.

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My Sonata for cello and piano is composed of the following movements:

 

i.  don’t cry because it’s over…

ii.  everything will be alright in the end and if it’s not alright it’s not the end

iii.  you won’t be able to watch sunsets after you die

interlude.  don’t waste time doing things you hate

iv.  …smile because it happened

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Each of the movements of my Sonata for cello and piano is based around platitudes: phrases that could come across as annoying, or obnoxious, in the wrong circumstances, but that might mean everything if they find you at the right time. They’re also known as “thought-terminating clichés” in

some circles. In other circles, they’re seen as naïve, cringe even.

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Each of them found me at a certain time in my life. I first read everything will be alright in the end, and if it’s not alright it’s not the end on a poster on a flatmate’s wall at university. Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened was first texted to me following the breakup of an immature fling when I was 16. Don’t waste your time doing things you hate is the title of a song by post-rock band And So I Watch You From Afar. And you won’t be able to watch sunsets after you die? That one may have saved my life, once.

 

In a sense, I’ve treated the material of my Sonata a bit like these platitudes. On the surface, the places, styles, and spaces I draw from—nu metal, skate punk, ska, surf rock, neoclassical film scores—might come across as annoying or obnoxious (and definitely will be to some). But I like to think there’s depth within this obnoxiousness. What Florence Anna Maunders calls the “beauty in the blood splatters”.

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I think even the most obnoxious things in the world stem from a place of true sincerity if you look underneath the surface. In a sense, that’s what these platitudes are about, for me; and maybe that’s what this Sonata is about, as well.

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The development of my Sonata for cello and piano was graciously supported by a residency at the Visby International Centre for Composers (VICC) in Visby, Gotland, and dedicated to my wonderful collaborator, Miki Piszczorowicz.