Postcriptum

For mezzo-soprano, violoncello and piano

Postscriptum

for Mezzo-soprano, Violoncello and Piano

A short wordless chamber work whose vocalise becomes a private afterthought: a brief meditation of nostalgia, dissolution, and inward resonance.

Year 2009
Duration 5′
Scoring Mezzo-soprano
Cello · Piano
Publisher Boosey & Hawkes
/ Sikorski
Boosey & Hawkes / Sikorski Purchase Score Online Materials Abbreviations PDF

Text

Vocalise. A wordless voice part, without a literary libretto.

Character

Quietly meditative. The work unfolds as an afterthought, suffused with nostalgia and a dark chamber intimacy.

Materials

Score and part. Available for sale through Boosey & Hawkes / Sikorski.

Structure

  • Postscriptum

    One movement for mezzo-soprano, cello and piano.

  • Text

    Vocalise — wordless vocal writing.

  • Second half

    Marked “PPS” in the publisher programme note, moving toward dissolution of the melodic line.

Work Information

Full Title
Postscriptum
Scoring
For mezzo-soprano, violoncello and piano.
Year
2009.
Duration
5′.
Music Text
Vocalise.
Publisher
Published by Boosey & Hawkes / Sikorski .
Territory
Available from Boosey & Hawkes / Sikorski for the world.
Availability
For sale. Print on Demand / enquiry via Boosey & Hawkes.

Text

Vocalise

Postscriptum has no literary libretto. The voice is used as a wordless instrument: a vocal presence rather than a bearer of text.

Vocalise Wordless text

No words are sung. The mezzo-soprano line functions as a vocalise, entering the chamber texture as breath, color, and memory.

In this format, the absence of text is not a lack of content but the central condition of the work: the voice speaks without language, as if after speech.

The Work

Postscriptum is a concise chamber work for mezzo-soprano, cello and piano. The publisher catalogue lists the work as 2009, for a duration of approximately five minutes, with the music text identified simply as vocalise.

The title suggests an afterword, a thought added after the apparent end of a statement. Its atmosphere belongs to the intimate chamber space: quiet, reflective, nostalgic, and charged with the sense of something remembered rather than declared.

An afterthought: music that seems familiar and yet not quite heard before. After the publisher programme note

The publisher’s programme note describes the second half, marked “PPS,” as a dissolution of the melodic writing heard earlier, with spectral piano trills and slightly howling string glissandi. The piece is therefore not simply a lyrical miniature; it is a short form that allows its own material to become memory.

  • Form One-movement chamber work.
  • Language Wordless vocalise.
  • Forces Mezzo-soprano, cello and piano.

Recording and Performance Context

A recent recording appears on the Chandos album Russian Roots, performed by Katharina Konradi with members of Trio Gaspard: Vashti Mimosa Hunter, cello, and Nicholas Rimmer, piano. The Chandos listing places Postscriptum in G-sharp minor and gives the recorded track duration as 2:47.

The same programme also appeared in live performance: Nicholas Rimmer’s concert listing for 21 April 2023 at Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin includes Auerbach’s Postscriptum für Mezzosopran, Violoncello und Klavier with Katharina Konradi and Trio Gaspard.

Online Materials

Public links related to Postscriptum, including the official publisher pages, recording pages, streaming platforms, and performance listings.

Boosey & Hawkes / Sikorski logo

Publisher and Materials

Published by Boosey & Hawkes / Sikorski. The official catalogue and purchase pages are linked below, together with the recording page for Russian Roots.