Mihailo Trandafilovski’s Polychromy

Mihailo writes:

Polychromy, written for Neil Heyde, is possibly the most “extreme” of all the pieces [on this new disc]: most of the colours and techniques explored would be called “extended” — but I find this term less than ideal: extension implies a norm, whereas I like to think of these techniques as part of a continuum, and as idiomatic to the instrument, rather than going against its nature, or expanding what some would call a “normal” sound. In a sense, I approached cello technique, and sound itself, from “scratch” — and starting with a “single scratch” pulse, a kaleidoscopic world of many colours gradually emerges, by using various subtle gradations of both left- and right- hand techniques: bow pressure, position and speed / sound density / vibrato / tremolo / microtones / harmonics etc. Integrating these elements in such a way that a natural momentum develops throughout the piece requires tremendous control and virtuosity by the player.

Of all of the composers I have worked with it is perhaps unsurprising that I feel I ‘know’ Mihailo best. He is a great friend and we have been performing colleagues as well as composer-performer collaborators since 2006, when he joined the Kreutzer Quartet as second violinist. The quartet is very fortunate to have a composer-performer in its middle, not only for the connections this makes with historical chamber music practice, but also because of the special intensity that this brings to his engagement with repertoires, and above all the violin. In the Spotify playlist linked below ‘Movement 2’, from the first of Mihailo’s pieces for us as a quartet gives a sense of the ‘engine’ that he can provide for the ensemble! (Fibers and Coils conveys his vision of the quartet as a meta-instrument…)

In addition to the quartet pieces we’ve worked on together, Mihailo has written two cello duos for me, the first of which I recorded with my daughter Evie back in 2014, and the second, more recently, for me and Rohan de Saram, as a response to a request for something exploring 13th-partial harmonics. This piece grew out of that duo, and arrived, with almost no warning, during one of the covid lockdowns. (This surprise made me very happy!)

Polychromy, like almost all of Mihailo’s music, i9s an extraordinary combination of very ‘high tech’ ways of handling the instrument (see the notation examples own the left to get a sense of his precision and attention to detail) and raw, natural expression that comes both from the ways in which materials unfold and an innate connection with the instrument. There’s also a deeply-rooted physicality to the way the music has to be performed, which is built into Mihailo as a player himself, but something that comes naturally out of the music if you invest everything in delivering it. I wouldn’t be surprised if a listener with no awareness of context imagined this piece was entirely improvised, but no improvisation could unfold with the kind of control that is embodied here. The piece repays very close listening (turn the volume right up!) and the willingness to follow th aliens right to the end.

Mihailo’s music is published by United Music Publishing.

The disc is on Metier.

The beautiful cover image is by Joanna Jones.

The YouTube link at the bottom of the page is in case you don’t use Spotify…