Acheronta Movebo
2010
Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo (‘If I cannot bend the Higher Powers, I will move the Infernal Regions’)
Dido in Virgil, Aeneid
Rather than the traditional concerto dialectic of a lone voice pitted against the mass, Acheronta movebo articulates instead an opposition of contrasting musical material. After the ‘traumatic experience’ of the opening, the piece charts a path through more open, serene territory based on the first three natural harmonics of each of the violin’s open strings. The music is, however, plagued by a ‘return of the repressed’, with more dense, chromatically saturated material threatening the superficial calm.
The violin soloist’s role is as the source and emanator of harmonic and textural material – a locus of the musical dialectic rather than a protagonist. Thus Dido’s words above provide a convenient parallel, the violin determining the music’s passage between two extremes.
Instrumentation: Solo Violin with ensemble of: 2 Flutes (one doubling picc), 2 Clarinets (one doubling bass cl.), Percussion (one player), Piano, String Quartet and Double Bass
Duration: c. 9″
Premiere: 26th November 2010 by Mike Jones and Vaganza at ‘Inward Beauty: Lachenmann at 75′, Cosmo Rodewald Hall, Manchester
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