The composer states:'The term 'oblique strategies? was coined jointly by British musician Brian Eno and German-born British visual artist Peter Schmidt to describe a series of printed cards they developed throughout the 1970's. The cards had their origins in sets of uncannily similar working principles that both artists had established independently, and featured aphorisms intended as a means of triggering inspiration or providing useful stimulus during the creative process, particularly when encountering difficulties of fatigue or time constraint.As Eno and Schmidt wrote in their introduction to the first edition in 1975: 'They can be used as a pack (a set of possibilities being continuously reviewed in the mind) or by drawing a single card from the shuffled pack when a dilemma occurs in a working situation. In this case, the card is trusted even if its appropriateness is quite unclear. They are not final, as new ideas will present themselves, and others will become self-evident?.I chose eleven of Eno and Schmidt's strategies, ordering them in a way that revealed to me a logic and potential inter-relatedness within a hitherto disparate set of single ideas I had assembled for solo cello, each of them in turn a reflection upon the commission's initial purpose of creating a test piece for the 2014 Emanuel Feuermann cello competition.It's my hope then that the resultant composition may provide not only an interesting test of the competitors' talents but also offer the interpreter an opportunity to reflect upon the delights and pitfalls of creativity as he or she comes to terms with the various musical and technical challenges to be found within these ten minutes of music for solo cello.? / Violoncelle

Arrangeur: Martin Tourish. Martin Tourish is an accordionist, composer and musicologist from Co. Donegal, now based in Dublin. Celtic music is in his blood, for his ancestors were noted collectors of dance music manuscripts dating back to the 19th century. With many recordings to his credit, he now offers his expertise to performers wishing to explore the rich culture of Irish and other Celtic music on a variety of instruments. 'World Music - Celtic? presents material from the Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Cornish and Breton traditions. It makes no great technical demands on the players, but Tourish points out that notation of this music is often 'skeletal?, hence it is important to gain a knowledge of the individual traditions in question and, naturally, he offers plenty of information on performance practice. The collection spans three centuries, from the blind bardic harpists of the 18th century to the international performers of the present day. Tourish accepts that this volume can only scratch the surface of a multi-faceted genre but hopes you will see it as a stepping stone to delve deeper into recordings, festivals and the very communities whence this music comes. 'World Music - Celtic? is available in six formats, each with complete recordings and backing tracks on CD: as solo versions for violin, violoncello, flute, clarinet or saxophone (with piano) and in an ensemble version for two melodic instruments (C, Bb or Eb), piano, guitar, bass and bodhrán./ Recueil / Violoncelle et Piano