Triple Concerto (2017) : for violin, viola/violin, and piano soloists, with string orchestra and percussion
- Submitting institution
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University of Bristol
- Unit of assessment
- 33 - Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies
- Output identifier
- 169829713
- Type
- J - Composition
- Month
- November
- Year
- 2017
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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0
- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- Yes
- Additional information
- A 21' major two-movement work for violin, viola/violin, and piano soloists, with string orchestra and percussion. The original version of the score (2017) uses viola in the first movement for soloist II, and violin in the second. An alternative version produced at the request of Caen festival uses viola throughout (premiered in 2019).
The primary innovations were timbrally liberating harmonic trills, which mix rapid alternations of harmonics together with fundamentals in a wash of sound, which provides a constant fluctuation between ‘normal’ and ‘feedback’ type sounds, on all string instruments used. These were originally inspired and derived from ‘double trills’ in Turkish bağlama
music, which, however, are not timbral or with harmonics. This new type of double trill with harmonics were first tested first by the composer, and then the soloists on violin, and appropriate notation found. Long-range polyrhythms, based on Turco-Hungarian aksak meters, also featured in the second movement. The piano part of the rhapsodic first movement was considerably developed after the first performance, resulting in a far more contrapuntal texture with piano sound-masses juxtaposed amidst the sheen of atmospheric, muted strings.
The harmonic trills worked as planned, turning not only the soloists, but also strings of the orchestra often into surprisingly mobile carriers of timbral variety and expressivity through relatively simple means. The polyrhythmic section juxtaposing a steady tempo with slowing down rhythmic units of limping meters (aksak) was also successful. The version re-composed for the Caen Festival with second soloist on viola throughout, showed that the virtuosic second movement could still be playable, and moreover sounded richer on viola; I now prefer this version.
Premiered at MOM Cultural Centre, Budapest, 23 November, 2017.
Output: score, video and audio recordings; Contextual information: see separate document for details and links
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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