
Verdwalingen
(Driftings)
Single release 17-01-2025
Verdwalingen (Driftings)
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Verdwalingen (Driftings) for 8 cellos, composed by Celia Swart and performed by Alfian Emir Adytia, weaves a journey of inner exploration, where seven harmonic cellos flow like waves in an endless sea of uncertainty, while the eighth cello’s drifting melody seeks stillness and acceptance amidst the disarray.
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The inspiration behind Verdwalingen (Driftings)
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''I wanted to create a piece that immerses the listener in a beautiful, flowing bath of cello harmonics. I’m captivated by the lightness of this sound and how each overtone has a unique character depending on the finger position and whether it's an artificial or natural harmonic. The cello itself, with its potential for both delicate and powerful tones, inspired me to explore a field of tension between the seven cellos that all play harmonics on one side and the 8th cello that plays a single melodic line on the 8th cello.
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Before writing this piece, I had taken my first big travel overseas. I was young, around 18 years old and stepped into this journey with a friend, who's country and family I was visiting. I didn't speak the language of my friends country and their family so she was my lifeline. I think we both did not oversee what it would mean if she would host me for 3 weeks and basically be my translator. Halfway through we drifted apart and I was wandering around the city, being in awe of it's vibrancy, but at the same time feeling kind of lonely, having no one to share my new impressions with.
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The piece begins with a single harmonic and a single natural pitch—like two voices starting a journey together. But as more harmonic tones emerge, the main melody starts to drift away. At times, the seven cellos with their harmonics nearly overpower the melody, creating a sense of drifting and tension.
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I approached the cover art and music video similarly: the single’s cover is a hand-painted self-portrait (oil on canvas), digitally edited to capture the moment drifting that occurs when the melody 8th cello nearly drowns in the sea of harmonics of the other 7 cellos. The music video is also filled with layered and split images, mirroring this effect visually.”​
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Celia Swart
About the composer Celia Swart
Celia Swart (NL) is a composer and multimedia artist. She creates significant worlds of sound out of a few elements. With a conceptual approach, she establishes narrative structure within the concept driven by personal themes such as isolation, fears and desires. Celia Swart has been commisioned by orchestra’s and ensembles including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Kluster5 (NL), Nieuw Ensemble (NL), Resonances XXI (FR), and the Bang on a Can Summer Festival Ensemble (USA).


Over cellist Alfian Emir Adytia
EMIR (fka Alfian Adytia) is an Indonesian composer, cellist, music producer, and educator currently residing in the Netherlands. Following his exceptional graduation with a master’s degree in classical music from The Royal Conservatoire of The Hague, Emir embarked on an expansive musical journey, resulting in the release of numerous albums and EPs. His work is deeply influenced by his Javanese and Minangkabau cultural heritage, which adds a distinctive layer to his interpretations of both historical and contemporary Western music. Emir has performed on prominent stages around the globe, including the Cello Biënnale Amsterdam, Ngayogjazz, Grachtenfestival, Zhang Jia Jie International Country Music Week, Amsterdam Minimal Music Festival, Gaudeamus Muziekweek, and Museumnacht, among others.
In 2021, he served as the artist-in-residence at the esteemed International Cello Festival Zutphen, where he showcased a variety of cello performances and composed a contemporary cello etude commissioned by the festival. In 2022, Emir received prizes at the Calefax Composers Competition in Amsterdam, Bartók World Competition for Composition in Budapest, and was featured in the Spitfire Audio LABS Community Playlist in London. His music has reached diverse audiences, from a grassroots community of young cellists in Yogyakarta to film screenings in Los Angeles and Montreal.
© Celia Swart 2024