In Croce

The title means both 'On the Cross' and 'Cross-Wise', and the music takes both meanings literally: the organ opens high in the register playing comparatively diatonic material, while the cello begins low with sparse, chromatic tones, and across the course of the piece the two instruments slowly swap positions, crossing paths in the middle in the most harmonically dense passage. Both instruments centre their activity on a single shared pitch, E, which acts as the fulcrum of the exchange. The organ's blower is switched off near the end, allowing its sound to slowly collapse, while the cello finishes alone in harmonics, very high, fragile notes produced with minimal left-hand pressure, so the piece ends with the string voice hovering above silence.

What to listen for

About halfway through, the two instruments arrive at their crossover point: the cello, which has been creeping upward, collides with the organ descending from above, and the texture briefly becomes the most dense and dissonant in the piece before each instrument continues past the other and settles into its new register. After the organ falls silent, listen for the cello shifting entirely into harmonics, the pitch stays audible but the tone changes from warm and bowed to something thinner and suspended, as if the sound is being stretched rather than played.

Recommended recording

Julius Berger (cello) and Stefan Hussong (bayan) on Wergo have been frequently cited for bringing intense focus and dynamic contrast to this work.

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