Instrumentation: String Orchestra (10 Violins, 4 Violas, 3 Cellos and 2 Double Basses)
Duration: a.c. 11:30 minutes
Year of composition: 2005 – 2006
Premiere: November 22, 2006, auditorium of the Palacio de Congresos de Cádiz. IV Spanish Music Festival of Cádiz
Andalusian Chamber Orchestra (OCA)
Michael Thomas (Conductor)
Commission: Junta de Andalucía (Manuel de Falla Chair)
Observations: This work is dedicated to the memory of the composer Manuel Castillo, a composer to whose memory the IV Festival of Spanish Music of Cádiz paid tribute from 16 to 26 November 2006.
Program notes:
This work has been composed on the occasion of the IV Composition Course of the “Manuel de Falla” Chair in Cádiz, taught by the composer David del Puerto.
The orchestra appears divided into five different groups (strata) and this condition has marked the development of the work, since the material has developed both in the vertical aspect (heights) and in the horizontal aspect (space and time).
The material is treated in a very primitive way with regard to the heights, but with a great and refined timbral work. Sound perception turns in its most physiological aspect, in a form of direct communication based on intuition, expressiveness and suggestion through sound.
- Group A: Violin 1, Viola 1, Violonchelo 1 and Double Bass 1
- Group B: Violins 2 and 3, Viola 2 and Cello 2
- Group C: Violins 4 and 5, and Viola 3
- Group D: Violins 6, 7 and 8, and Cello 3
- Group E: Violins 9 and 10, Viola 4 and Double Bass 2
This material that at the beginning of the work appears very primary, in its development it will evolve until a moment before the end, which, like a kaleidoscope, will go through all the instruments of the orchestra.
The orchestra, in this work, is going to undergo various physiological transformations, since at different times it will appear as a single instrument (complete divisi), in others the instruments will appear grouped by families (traditional arrangement), and in others they will appear forming different groups or strata (as they appear distributed on the stage).
