The cellist and composer Graham Waterhouse has written many works of chamber music including cello, but few works for solo cello, besides the Three Pieces for Solo Cello in 1996.[1] He composed a set of variations for cello solo in December 2019 for a family gathering. Similar to Elgar's Enigma Variations, the character variations depict family members in characteristic moods, movements and manners. The early variations stay closely to the theme; later variations are more loosely connected to it.[2] The last variation is expanded to a coda, which returns to a repetition of the theme, as a symbol for the family's continuity.[2]
The composer played the public premiere at the Alte Schmiede in Vienna on 14 February 2020,[3] as part of a chamber music program with soprano Beata Beck and pianist Nino Gurevich, including works by Leonard Bernstein, Friedrich Cerha, Richard Dünser, Arnold Schönberg and Kurt Weill.[4] The composition was published by Schott in Mainz the same year,[3] dedicated to Young-Chang Cho, the composer's former teacher at the Folkwang Hochschule.[2] The duration is given as 8 minutes.[3] The composition is part of a concert on 6 March 2021 at the Gasteig in Munich, with music by Beethoven and Waterhouse for one to five players, with Katharina Sellheim, David Frühwirth, Namiko Fuse and Konstantin Sellheim.[5]
