Footsteps for solo cello and fixed media (2020) - 1 minute 15 seconds

Commissioned by Bang on a Can All-Stars cellist Arlen Hlusko as a part of her September Solo Cello pandemic lockdown project (#septembersolocello), Footsteps premiered via Instagram on November 14th, 2020.

The performance video below was made by Arlen for the Tippet Rise Art Center in Montana and was performed and recorded at the Sculpture Studio of Joel Shapiro in New York on December, 8 2020.

Footsteps is also featured as the opening track on Arlen’s second album titled [in]verse, a special collaboration with Fall for Dance North (FFDN) mixing classical music, new commissioned works, and poetry recited by FFDN’s community of dancemakers from around the world. You can learn more about the album and support Arlen by ordering a physical or digital copy here: [in]verse album

Program Note

Footsteps is a piece made in the spirit of collaboration as a part of Arlen Hlusko’s #septembersolocello project. During the depths of the pandemic lockdown of 2020, I responded to a call to composers she put out on Instagram to collaborate with her on some miniatures for solo cello — and Footsteps was the result.

Footsteps is composed for cello and fixed media and uses field recordings made by Arlen, as well as a seven second clip from one of her favourite songs, as source material for the piece. In our conversations leading to the creation of the work, we talked of our shared love for nature, as well as the exciting feelings of discovery and love for the beauty of the world that one experiences when getting out into nature. In this piece, I capture some of these feelings by having Arlen lead us on a journey through nature with the sound of her footsteps.

The field recordings used in the work were made by Arlen in the area surrounding her childhood home. I was particularly drawn to the sound of her footsteps as she walked through forests, on boardwalks, by rivers, and up hills. I liked their changing speeds and allowed the natural pace of her walking and running to set a subtly accelerating tempo throughout the short length of the piece.

Arlen also sent me a seven second clip from one of her favourite songs, Holocene by Bon Iver, that spoke to her love of nature. This clip, manipulated beyond recognition and set in the background of the overall texture, became a part of the DNA of Footsteps.

A special mention goes out to a little bell that I got in Myanmar that makes an appearance in the piece too!