Physical copy of the sheet music mailed to you. 

Composer: Marcus Norris

Year: 2016

Instrumentation: cello quartet (4 celli). There is also a version for Cello & Fixed Media Electronics, available here.

Duration: 6 minutes

About the work: You Haven’t Said a Word is an approximately five-and-a-half-minute piece composed for four cellists. This piece is an attempt to write music that reflects moments of intense stress in relationships, specifically instances in which neither person voices their emotions. I aimed to musically represent this unspoken tension, as well as its eventual resolution.

The music does not follow any specific story, and the work is not programmatic, but I aim for the tension and resolution to be apparent to the listener. The title influenced the composition of the piece, with the material at the beginning sounding very static, dissonant, and slow evolving. This music metaphorically mimics the unspoken tension previously mentioned. I do not anticipate listeners being able to hear the relationships directly, but I aim for the title to be suggestive, setting the tone or mood for the listening experience.