Magnus Plejdrup: Smile (ver. 3 for solo cello)

As performed by Maria Kolby Sonstad during the 'Kaleidoscope I'-concert at the Panorama Festival 2019 in Aarhus at The Royal Academy of Music.
'A smile is typically connected to positive feelings of joy and relief. This work, however, revolves around another kind of smiling: The awkward smiling at a job interview, the insecure lift of lips when we see a previous partner of love and the very decisive cramp in our cheeks after forcing a smile for too long. The work also revolves around the imperative form of the word as a verb - from the start, you can almost hear the instrument decisively ordering us to ‘SMILE!’ whilst aggressively moving up and down the open strings, before culminating in a melancholic, stressed cadenza.'
Sound and video: Jesper Brinck. Neverending compliments for this material, thank you so much!
Huge thanks to TV2-Østjylland for filming and for covering the Panorama Festival. See their footage here:
www.tv2ostjylland.dk/nyheder/...