In the early stages of composing a piece for the wonderful cellist Tim Gill and pianist-composer David Gompper I chanced across a book of verses by the mystical Sufi poet Rumi (13th C). Among the many beautiful images I found there I was especially drawn to these lines
If the doors of repose have been barred to you,
Come, let us go
By way of the roof and the ladder
and was attracted by the restless compulsion to move on, to escape, regardless of obstacles and prohibitions, and the unexpected pathways opened up.
I think of the cellist here as a mystic, continually chasing after a state of exultation, following where body and spirit lead, through dance, song and ecstatic prayer.
By way of the roof is dedicated to my good friend Harold Meltzer. Tim Gill and David Gompper will give the first performance at the University of Iowa, on November 20th, and then bring it to Cambridge UK for a concert on December 5th, also featuring music by Tom Ades, Richard Causton, Zoe Martlew and David Gompper.
Jeremy Thurlow is a composer, writer and pianist. His music has been performed by the BBC Philharmonic, Sequitur, the Fitzwilliam String Quartet, Endymion, the Kreutzer Quartet, the Schubert Ensemble, the BBC Singers, Matthew Schellhorn, Rolf Hind, among many others. His book on Dutilleux is published in French by Millénaire III, and he has also written and broadcast on Messiaen and numerous other twentieth-century composers.
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Jeremy Thurlow - composer 