Wanderlied (2003)

Composed for cellist Sonia Wieder-Atherton and the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Wanderlied is a ‘song without words’ for solo cello and fifteen instruments. The title is taken from Wanderpoem, a work written in 1943 by the composer’s father, Eugène Jolas. The piece follows a continuous, linear trajectory, a “grand composed crescendo”, moving from an initial lyricism to a violent final explosion.

Betsy Jolas invites the listener to imagine the cello as a “timeless storyteller” wandering through her life. As she expresses herself through her instrument “ohne Worte, ma molto espressivo”, the ensemble surrounding her represents the crowd gathering around her: “some who love her and others who do not,” as Jolas puts it. The music captures an inner monologue steeped in nostalgia, anxiety and “wild impulses”, often struggling against the dark, oppressive tones of a wind-dominated orchestration before reaching its dramatic conclusion.