The way down

The Way Down, for cello and piano, a work commissioned by Elsa Dorbath and Gilles Grimaître, draws its inspiration from a famous 20th-century building. Between 1978 and 1986, British architect Richard Rodgers designed the Lloyd’s Bank headquarters in London’s financial district. A building of singular elegance, it is distinguished by the absence of external walls. The functional elements that make up the building’s structure—ventilation ducts, lift shafts and pipework—are laid bare and revealed on the building’s exterior. 

The Way Down is a piece for piano and cello in which elements such as bar counting or the breakdown of time—which are generally only used in rehearsals or during the compositional process—are retained and brought to the foreground. The anatomy of the instruments themselves is brought into play. Functional parts such as the piano frame, tuning pins, music stand and seat are used to create an articulation that harmonises the two instruments into a shared sound.

recorded live at the opening concert of Amplitudes Festival, 2020

Theâtre de l'Heure Bleue, La Chaux de Fonds