Theme and Variations on "Draw the Sacred Circle Closer" for solo cello; Adolphus Hailstork (Theodore Presser Company)

Adolphus Hailstork's (b 1941) is one of the foremost African-American composers working today. His style and output cannot be pigeonholed as one type of music--he has written in all classical genres and finds as much inspiration in European models as he does in African-American culture.

Cello is the perfect instrument to showcase through this fascinating set of variations on a theme of universal unity. The cello's range and tone evoke the baritone voice, and its facility in contrapuntal playing allows for polyphony in the manner of Bach's cello suites. The theme (sounding like a spiritual) is actually the final chorus of the Hailstork's "Earthrise," a profoundly bold cantata using Schiller's "Ode to Joy" as text, and full of allusions to all four movements of Beethoven's ninth symphony. Hailstork's "Earthrise" features a festival chorus singing in German, alternating with an African-American chorus singing in English with vernacular verve. The choruses ultimately unite to end the cantata together with "Draw the Sacred Circle Closer," a translation of lines from Schiller's "Ode to Joy." For advanced cellists.