Erik Bergman

Lament & Incantation Op. 106 For Soprano And Cello

The three-movement Quo vadis by Erik Bergman is a typical example of his recent coloristic-improvisatory style. It is a dialogue-like duo in which the instruments speak both in turn and together. Their voices grow in a wedge of volume - from silence to passionate outbursts and from the middle to the outer registers. Each rejoinder is usually dominated by a particular mode of playing and figure, the most marked being the highly dissonant crashes on the piano and the cello tremoli. The themes of the second movement are based on a medieval Dies irae melody. But their melodic type, oscillating backwards and forwards over a small interval, is characteristic of Bergman and accordingly makes its appearance in the other movements, too.