among the mycelia

for amplified solo cello with fern fronds (2021)

commissioned by Berwick Music Series

to Anton Lukoszevieze

f.p. The Watchtower, Berwick-upon-Tweed, 8 October 2022

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Mycelia are the root-like structures of fungi, consisting of a mass of branching, thread-like ‘hyphae’ and prevalent throughout the soils of fields and forests. Their networks of threads are crucial to the structure and health of soils, and to the symbiosis of the plants and fungi that grow in them.

among the mycelia explores this subterranean world of microscopic entanglement and exchange. The cello is played with a fern pinna instead of a bow, the resultant sounds being extremely soft and requiring amplification.