23 May Cello Motel
The family tree of Cello Motel (1993) shows its descent from Accordion Motel (1992), whose forebears include Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, Guus Jansen’s One Bar for harpsichord, and the dub tune Dread River by the reggae group Burning Spear. The miscegenation of these secular and sacred ancestors brings to mind the medieval isorhythmic motet, albeit with “motel” seeming more apt than “motet”.
There are precious few ingredients in this piece: eight chords, two dynamics, one articulation, and a coda. It was written at the request of Andrew Toovey, Artistic Director of Ixion (London), to whom it is affectionately dedicated.
