Peter Nickol Praeludium for solo cello duration: 7 minutes   Praeludium I find the sound of unaccompanied cello particularly inviting, and associate it with several beautiful or atmospheric places where I have heard performances of the Bach suites. It's a sound which seems to fill space to special effect, and I tried to capture this unique sonority in the final (slow) movement of Praeludium. In all, the piece lasts around 7 minutes and is in three movements, though the first of these itself subdivides into two distinct halves. The opening owes something to the manner of an Indian alap, in which notes are introduced one by one. Peter Nickol My musical roots lie in the Sixties: piano lessons, choral singing, concert-going, my interests widening into pop and world musics, and my first degree at York University. My professional career since then has been in book publishing, especially as an editor and designer of music for the educational market; but latterly I have been working my composing up to a more proficient level, and I am now studying for the PhD at Exeter with Philip Grange. Back to shortlist.