Manchester Camerata to premiere Warp and Weft, a double cello concerto by Colin Riley

Colin Riley’s latest work “Warp and Weft”, the world’s first double cello concerto, will receive its world premiere by Manchester Camerata – winners of the RPS Music Award in the Ensemble category – on 8^th June 2017. With Gabriella Swallow and Guy Johnston as soloists, the piece is almost exclusively built on the mutual support between the two performers, while celebrating the 300^th anniversary of JS Bach’s seminal set of cello suites. Held at the Manchester Cathedral, the premiere will be part of ”The Play Off” – an evening combining both of the two worlds with works by Mozart, Haydn as well as Glass – and a live remix of Riley’s concerto by Youth Forum.

“There are not many double concertos. This might be because the traditional view of a concerto is to pit the virtuosity and flair of a top musical athlete against

the might of a large ensemble, and two protagonists is just a bit crowded for them both to shine,” explains the composer as to why he decided to provide a very different approach.

As a combined force, the two cellos bring to life the musical elements around them through the intricate interplay of coaxing and cajoling the orchestra. The music breaks into and away from dance-grooves, Bach-like bowing figurations, and calm contemplative passages but it is always the cellos in close relationship which drives the music with constant bumping together, fusing, or breaking away.  

As a hidden treasure inside the music is the Prelude from Bach’s first solo suite, perhaps the most famous bit of all cello music. This weaving in of an old masterpiece further adds to the interlacing of musical styles which pervade

the whole piece.