Anna Clyne (1980-present)   
“Dance,” Cello Concerto (2020)

Anna Clyne’s deeply expressive work “Dance,” came about in 2016, after Conductor Marin Alsop introduced Clyne to the Israeli-born cellist Ingbal Segev, who then commissioned a cello concerto.

So why is a modern composer of acoustic and electro-acoustic music, Anna Clyne—born in the late 20th century—sandwiched between two sibling composers from the mid-1800s? While wildly different in style, Clyne’s music, like Felix Mendelssohn’s, tells a story, and many of her projects explore the visual arts.

Fanny Mendelssohn found the courage to compose during a time that failed to recognize her talent, while Clyne continues the evolution by pushing boundaries with music that defies categorization. Women composers may still be on the rare side, but they are no longer in hiding or considered a novelty.

The New York Times described Clyne as a “composer of uncommon gifts and unusual methods;” Time Out New York called her “dazzlingly inventive.”

If you aren’t familiar with Clyne, she’s a Grammy-nominated composer whose work often includes collaborations with cutting-edge musicians, choreographers, visual artists, and filmmakers. Sometimes her music is described as experimental, barrier breaking, compelling, beautiful…it varies from one work to the next.

Born in London on March 9, 1980, Clyne didn’t grow up with classical music—her family listened to Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac, and Dire Straits, which led to her love of melody. She began composing around age 10, and after studying music at the University of Edinburgh, Clyne moved to the United States in 2002 to attend the Manhattan School of Music.

Combinations of sound have always fascinated Clyne, and her body of wide-ranging works mix materials in unique ways. For those who fear contemporary music, relax—Clyne’s work is tonal, and features recognizable melodies and themes.      

She feels most connected to and comfortable writing for the cello, which Clyne also plays. Her deeply expressive and melodic work, “Dance,” came about in 2016, after Conductor Marin Alsop introduced Clyne to the Israeli-born cellist Ingbal Segev, who then commissioned a cello concerto.

The result is the emotional work “Dance,” which premiered on Aug. 3, 2019, at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music. Both the title and inspiration for it come from a poem by the 13th-century Persian writer and mystic, Rumi, yet the work feels contemporary and personal.

Full of intensity and highly skillful musical ideas, “Dance” blends several influences: Clyne’s Irish-English family, Polish-Jewish ancestry, Segev’s Israeli-American heritage, as well as classical music, especially Baroque.

The word “dance” begins each of the five lines from Rumi’s poem during this rich and compelling five-movement work. The lines function as titles for the movements: “Dance, when you’re broken open...; Dance, if you’ve torn the bandage off...; Dance in the middle of the fighting...; Dance in your blood...; Dance, when you’re perfectly free ...”

Soulful, melancholic, yet optimistic, “Dance” takes its listeners on a steady, slow (yet urgent) emotional journey—shedding despondency and anxiety for a state free of emotional turmoil.

The first movement is slow, lovely, lyrical, and not very dance-like. (“Dance” was never intended to be a suite of dances, which one might assume.) There are moments when soothing string chords highlight the soaring cello line as “you’re broken open.”

The second, more playful movement (which does sound dance-ish) opens energetically with a kind of “industrial” minimalism, and features some mighty outbursts from the cello. Edgy melodies flit up and down in the strings, while the violin expresses yearning, and the cello delivers a courtly dance tune. The ending is abrupt: the bandage has been torn off.

The third movement is rather rhapsodic, slower and more somber, featuring simple melodies. There is some enjoyable interplay between the woodwinds before the movement reaches a tranquil conclusion; no more fighting. 

During the fourth movement, the cello is serious and reflective, before the playing grows frantic. Tympani herald a shift to a slightly warlike undertone. There is a sense of entrapment and a struggle to free oneself—it’s in your blood!

Low, agitated notes from the cello begin the final movement. A Jewish melody is detectable as the playing dashes between frantic and sedate modes. There’s a sense of indecision—until the ending arrives, the tension settles, and calm reigns. We’ve survived! We’re free!

Jayce Keane, who began her career as a journalist for The Rocky Mountain News, has been working in the orchestra industry and writing about music for 18 years. A longtime resident of California, she now lives in Colorado.