UmeDuo performing Bells and Tides at Svensk Musikvår 2018. Photo: Hampus Andersson.
Bells and Tides (2016) is a piece for cello and percussion. It was commissioned by Swedish sisters Karolina and Erika Öhman (UmeDuo) and the Swedish Arts Council. The commission was to write a piece freely inspired by music of non-western origin. I choose Carnatic music of southern India, with the most concrete inspiration source being the characteristic percussion instrument Ghatam. Bells and Tides was released on UmeDuo’s debut album Scrapes and Soundscapes in 2020 (NEOS).
Durata: 10′
Score available at Svensk Musik.
Percussion instrumentation: 3 singing bowls, temple blocks, ghatam, dholak, frame drum, pitch-bend gong, 4 Thai gongs.
Other performances by UmeDuo include:
In 2017 the piece was performed at Satellite Salon, Cedar City, Utah by Ashley Walters and Lynn Vartan, and in 2019 at the ISCM World Music Days Tallinn by Teemu Mastovaara and Felix Stachelhaus.
Premiere@St Petersburg
UmeDuo, St Petersburg International New Music Festival, reMusik, 2016. Video by reMusik.
Performance@Svensk Musikvår
UmeDuo, Grünewaldsalen, Stockholms Konserthus, 2017. Video by Johan E. Andersson
Bells and Tides (2016)
for cello and percussion
When UmeDuo commissioned Bells and Tides they asked for a piece freely inspired by music of non-western origin. I choose Carnatic music from southern India in which the percussion instrument Ghatam, characteristic in music from this area, became the most concrete inspiration source. The pitch of the Ghatam used by Erika, a quarter tone low F, became the fundament of the piece. Around the sound of the Ghatam I wanted to build an undulating, inharmonic sound world, expanding and contracting – Tides. Karolina plays glissandi, natural harmonics and prepared strings creating gong-like sounds, corresponding with Japanese singing bowls, gongs and saucer bells in percussion. The second movement focuses on hands and fingers on the Indian hand drum Dholak, frame drum and Ghatam, and quiet percussive sounds on the cello.
Bells and Tides (2016)
för cello och slagverk
När UmeDuo beställde Bells and Tides önskade de ett verk fritt inspirerat av musik från en annan kultur än vår västerländska. Jag valde karnatisk musik från södra Indien, där den mest konkreta inspirationskällan blev det karaktäristiska slagverksinstrumentet ghatam. Tonhöjden på den ghatam Erika använder, ett kvarttonssänkt F, blev utgångspunkten för styckets musikaliska material. Runt instrumentet ville jag bygga en inharmonisk, svävande ljudvärld, som utvidgas och kontraheras likt tidvattnets skiftningar – Tides. På cellon används glissandon, naturflageoletter och strängar som preparerats och i pizzicato får en gongliknande klang. I slagverksstämman kompletteras ghatam av dobaĉi, gongar och saucer bells.
I sats II utforskas slagtekniker med händer och fingrar på den indiska handtrumman dholak, frame drum och ghatam tillsammans med svaga, perkussiva ljud på cellon.
Dagens Nyheter, March 21 2018 (paywall)
“[…] This art music always demands its thoroughbred professionals, and they are the Swedish Music Spring Festival. Like UmeDuo, in other words the sisters Karolina and Erika Öhman on cello and percussion respectively. Unceasingly captivating in Chinese-born Leilei Tian’s metaphorically ”Never-ending journey”, Jenny Hettne’s both surrealistic and groovy ”Bells and Tides” and Ivo Nilsson’s new ”Whereabout 1” where the cello and the percussions exchange shapes.”
— Camilla Lundberg on Bells and Tides (free translation)