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performed by the BRNO Contemporary Orchestra
Piccola Serenata is a 21st-century take on the type of pieces composed
and performed in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries, intended as light entertainment at social gatherings. Such pieces typically contained a variety of contrasting themes: as inspired by this style, Piccola Serenata contains many shifts in mood - some subtle, and some surprising. Melodies and harmonic language are played with in ways intended to evoke the sounds of the past in a modern setting, but with various elements designed to tickle the ear as the listener is led along a meandering musical path.
The initial 'seed motif' begins as a searching, sweeping call-and-response between violin and cello, over a rhythmically textured backdrop filled with growing urgency. As the motive continues to develop, it is at times almost at rest, only to be swept up again in various forms: comedic quirkiness gradually becoming surreal and unsettled; soulful meandering towards the temptation of repose; brooding attempts to find its way yet again on the twisting path. The first theme's triumphant re-appearance leads to a shimmering, intense climax only to dissolve once more into motivic tendrils. A satisfying - although possibly unexpected - end to the excursion awaits...
performed by the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra
Two Moods: Dusk & Carnaval (Ballade y Festivo) is comprised of two movements played without interruption.
In the first movement, Dusk (in Ballade style), searching and lyrical lines wend and weave through the texture, evoking the sense of the rural world quieting and calming in the beauty of the fading light. The nocturnal calm is then interrupted with the festive fanfare of the second movement, Carnaval.
Carnaval transforms the serenity of the principal motives of Dusk into a rhythmically driven frenzy inspired by the feelings of festivity, high energy, and glee present in Dominican/Caribbean carnival celebrations. As the wild energy abates,
the opening theme of the first movement returns in variation form as a reminiscence of the earlier soothing mood. However, the second movement's fanfare theme soon reappears, culminating in a celebratory and frenetic finale.
performed by the Dunn/Ward Duo
Dúo Fantástico (written for the Dunn/Ward Duo) is a four-movement work in which the initial thematic material is developed and varied through a series of sound worlds. The interplay between the guitars creates various atmospheres throughout the piece. The opening ostinato line provides the material from which the rest of the piece develops: the initial section contains ostinato overlaid with an increasingly intense and complex melody, but soon melts into a peaceful transition to the second movement. The second movement is influenced by scherzo form, and develops the material with driving rhythmic textures and percussive effects which shift between the guitars and which also create various interlocking rhythmic levels as the voices combine. The excitement builds up to the third movement, at which point the textures become more delicate and transparent, creating a sense of serene repose in stark contrast to the storminess of the first two movements. Movement four recaps material from previous movements: the intensity rises once more, leads through a lyrical cadenza, and finishes with a wild, pulsating, 'fantastic' ending.
performed by Alexander Dunn, Patricia Kostek, Alex Rempel, Jay Schreiber
Poema místico moves between serene meditation and severe action. Each instrument is given an opportunity to explore both quiet ruminations and violent episodes: hushed ostinato rhythms and lyrical melodies are often antagonized into fury, only to abate once again. The single-movement work explores facets of mysticism: calm and meditative moments are interspersed with sections of rhythmic intensity, creating a sound world which alternates between both the gentle and the wild energies of mystical and spiritual discovery and experience.
performed by the Sirius Quartet
Lluvia
Anyone who has grown up in the tropics has the experience of tropical rain in their blood: the sounds, the scents, the sensations are like rain nowhere else.
Although I had no programmatic intent when writing this piece, once completed it seemed to evoke the intensity and moods of the rainstorms in the Dominican Republic: the suddenness of pounding rain enveloping the world, mesmerizing; brief respites, filled with drops falling from vines and branches in a gentle rhythm; then again the rain, heavier and heavier until suddenly - the cloudburst is spent. Shafts of sunlight pierce the clouds.
Steam rises...
performed by the Cuarteto de Cuerdas de Bellas Artes (México)
Cuarteto de Cuerdas (String Quartet) is a free-form fugue comprised of four movements. All four movements are linked through their roles in the larger fugal form and by the two themes that are explored throughout the work using different musical textures and characters. Movement one is a complete fugue in itself: a fuga con cierta licencia which introduces the work's two musical themes. Movement two continues the development of the fugue's thematic material in free-form episodes in the guise of a vals. In movement three the initial fugal theme and episodes from movement one re-enter and are transformed through developmental variation. The final movement is based on the second theme from movement one, which is developed in a quasi-stretto containing elements from the three previous movements. Movement four ends with a coda in which the work's initial musical material is quietly and calmly resolved.
performed by Vox Humana
Canadian Triptych
Who we are and how we see the world is shaped by our living environments. The history of Canadian literature is full of the exploration of urban/rural contrasts, with poets reflecting, yearning, celebrating, remembering or projecting change, and sharing tales of transformation. Often, 'poetry of place' is synonymous with 'poetry of identity'; our visceral and inextricable link to our surroundings has inspired many poets to explore this rich and varied theme.
The three poems chosen for "Canadian Triptych" feature three significant 20th/21st-century female Canadian poets: Margaret Avison, Lorna Crozier, and Jan Zwicky. Although each poetic voice is unique, each of these three poems touches on aspects of the idea of exploring ourselves and our way of being as it relates to our environments.
performed by Alexander Dunn & Vox Humana
He andado muchos caminos
I have long admired the poetry of Antonio Machado.
"He andado muchos caminos" is my musical development of that music already latent in all of Machado's verse. My setting is a multisectional cantata in two broad movements, comprising chorales, recitatives and arias, with interludes for solo guitar.