Cut Sections (Bryta snitt)

the memory of the arpeggiated forms gave them a phantom perspective
– Allan Kozinn, The New York Times

Bartosz Cailer, Staffan Scheja, Ola Karlsson och Henrik Strindberg 2006
Bartosz Cailer, Staffan Scheja, Ola Karlsson och Henrik Strindberg 2006
Program Note

Bryta snitt. Tiden fryser was composed to be premiered in the St. Nicolaus ruin in Visby, a medieval Swedish town on an island in the Baltic Sea. Visby is classified as "World Heritage". An impressive defense wall is surrounding the town and there are many ruins from old churches and monasteries.

“Cut sections” refers to one of the ways an architect describes a building by drawing a section that cuts the building where it's the most interesting. The cut section line is not necessarily straight. This is something you'll only expect to find in drawings. But when visiting the ruins of Visby you can experience cut sections in real. It's very beautiful.

So you will hear cut sections in the music, a sharp move from the cello to the violin as they play arpeggiation on harmonics. These broken chords have an amazing sound quality. All the rhythms come from the different ways you can work the bow to play the arpeggiation.

The pointillistic figures in the piano derive from a quotation from a piece by Bo Nilsson, the Swedish composer that became famous during the pioneer times of the Darmstadt summer course in the fifties.

The piece is dedicated to Staffan Scheja, one of Sweden's most prominent pianists. I was extremely happy when Staffan asked me to write a piece to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Gotland Chamber Music Festival.

Henrik Strindberg

Bryta snitt instrumentation
Plan of instrumentation
Bryta snitt MoMA
Miranda Cuckson, Christopher Gross and Philip Fisher, during the US premiere at MoMA, New York, 2006
NNEO repeterar Bryta snitt 2011
Christian Svarfvar, Mårten Landström and David Gammelgård, Norrbotten NEO, during rehearsal, Sound of Stockholm 2011
Plan
Cut Sections was carefully planned
Bo Nilsson citat
The quotation from Drei Szenen by Bo Nilsson that is the basis for the stuff is in contrast with the arpeggiation
Bryta snitt inledning
Sketch of the first bars and the typical sudden shift to a higher register
English Title
Cut Sections
Year
2005
Durata
9'
Instruments
Piano Trio
Dedication
Staffan Scheja
Commission
The Gotland Chamber Music Festival
First Performance
Bartosz Cailer, Ola Karlsson and Staffan Scheja, 2006
Other Performances
  • MoMA Summergarden 2006 by Miranda Cuckson, Christopher Gross and Philip Fisher, New York
  • ISCM 2009 by Athelas (Denmark), Gothenburg, Sweden
  • Nordlysfestivalen 2011 by Norbotten NEO, Tromsø, Norway and Sound of Stockholm 2011
  • Students from Edsberg, Forum, Stockholm 2014
  • Trio Nova, 2017, Uddevalla
  • Students from Edsberg, Stockholm 2023
Remarks

Original title: Cut Sections. Time Freezes (Bryta snitt. Tiden fryser)

Recording