Sixty-Six

Programme notes

The word collage stems from the French verb coller meaning -to glue, to paste- and refers in visual arts to an art piece made of pre-existing fragments. Robert Casteels made exactly the same artistic approach: Sixty-Six is a collage of 66 quotes extracted out of the entire cello repertoire and arranged in chronological order. The chosen number 66 refers to number six that was the perfect number for baroque composers, because 6 = 1 + 2 + 3. A cellist's journey comes from and goes back to Johann Sebastian Bach. Hence, Bach's prelude from his solo cello suite number 1 is interspersed with 66 short quotes from cello solo sonatas, cello chamber music pieces and cello concertos by 66 composers. Sixty-Six is also a true chamber music piece, as the six cellists engage in a game of musical question and answer in which the role of leader rotates clockwise. The audience is invited to view the unfolding musical mosaic, as the number of pitches from Bach's prelude grows exponentially whilst the style of the quotes shifts gradually from baroque to classical to romantic to the most recent contemporary music. Certain quotes will certainly ring a bell!

Handwritten sketches and drafts

to be found under the title Betwixt between on page 113 of the red cover, A4 size, 377 pages sketchbook

Recording

link is the video of the premiere