Joe Stollery

Tussle for the Keg is a duo for violin and cello inspired by the dramatic painting of the same name by John Pettie (1839-93), which depicts two Scotsmen (depicted stereotypically as a Highlander in a kilt and a Lowlander dressed in the clothes of an excise officer) in mid-fight wrestling over a jug (the ‘keg’), the narrative suggesting that it was presumably smuggled by the Highlander, for which the Lowland officer then intercepted. Naturally, this piece aims to capture the fierce relentless energy, intensity, and unpredictability of the fight; the two characters being represented by the instruments individually (a hectic violin for Highlander and slightly dour cello for Lowlander), with the keg being aurally represented by an audible col legno sound which is frequently passed between each instrument. To convey the sense of chaos, the piece often switches abruptly between harmonic moods of a desperate nature, and the instruments strain against one another at many points to give graphic impressions of wrestling. Occasionally there are stumbles as the men lose their footing every now and then, and the climactic final bars leave the outcome of this fight undecided, with both men seeming to claim the victory!

The piece was composed as a commission from Aberdeen City Council’s as part of their Creative Funding Award 2023.

PERFORMANCES:

Première: 21 May 2023 - Aberdeen Art Gallery - Guera Crockett (violin) and Alison MacDonald (cello)