This concerto was developed from my solo cello piece called "osm". During the composition of this work, my dear friend Katinka Kleijn helped me to try out the writing: she played bits into her phone and emailed the recordings to me on a daily basis. Whilst I was writing this solo work, my friend Andreas Waldburg asked me if he could commission a piece for my 40th birthday in 2017 when I will be 40. I was (naturally) delighted and asked if I could write a Cello Concerto from the materials of "osm". He was happy with this and we didn't have to look very far for the soloist. Katinka Kleijn is a mutual friend of ours and she was happy to perform the premiere of this concerto. Looking for the Ensemble was not hard either. We asked International Contemporary Ensemble (I.C.E.), and they came on board. The only problem was that neither Andreas nor I.C.E. wanted to wait until I turned 40, so they asked me to write for the premiere whilst I was still 39 (composing when I was 38). I was delighted to write for my 40th birthday 1 year early.
The cello material was already there, and the challenge was to enhance the aura of the cello by composing the ensemble part without interfering, without bothering the solo part. Later this concerto was orchestrated to symphony orchestra size, so there are now two versions of this concerto with same solo part.
Dai Fujikura