Barbie Dutter
"The Daily Telegraph"
London, England
Saturday, June 22, 1996The cellist with more than one bow to her string
The cellist Frances-Marie Uitti has given London concert-goers a glimpse of her highly unusual technique of playing her instrument with two bows simultaneously.
Miss Uitti pioneered the technique after becoming dissatisfied with the limited harmonies of traditional playing methods.
"I became obsessed with the problem and spent hours mulling over various possibilities, but to no avail," she said. "Finally, the solution appeared, literally in a dream - to play with two bows in the right hand. I developed a way of doing this and subsequently found myself immersed in a new sound world from which I have not yet emerged."
Subsequently, a number of composers have written works specially for her incorporating the technique. She used two bows during an improvisation as part of a concert exploring the work of experimental, award-winning British composer Benedict Mason at the Conway Hall, London, on Thursday.
Miss Uitti, an American who is based in Amsterdam, was invited to take part by the composer, who is an admiror of her work.
She made her solo debut with an orchestra at the age of 13, and now tours extensively, performing across the world.
In 1990, she premiered Jonathan Harvey's Cello Concerto--which he dedicated to her--with the BBC Symphony Orchestra to critical acclaim. She collaborated with Harvey for a newly released recording, Imaginings, in which she uses the two-bow technique in a series of improvisations.