for ensemble
«Commande d’État» by the French Minstry of Culture for the Ensemble Intercontemporain
Instrumentation: Flute + Alto Flute, Oboe + English Horn, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Horn, 2 Trumpets, Trombone, 2 Percussions, Piano, 2 Violins, Viola, Cello, Contrabass
Duration: 16 min.
First performance given by the Ensemble Intercontemporain conducted by Matthias Pintscher.
«Primera Escena», commissioned by the French Ministry of Culture for the Ensemble Intercontemporain, is a work based on the traditional opposition existing in between recitative and aria. The first is essentially a time when the action progresses, where the information about the drama is high, but where the music that accompanies this information is not rich. In contrast, in arias, the story is subordinated to musical information, and as long as the drama does not advance, composers can enrich their discourse.
In «Primera Escena» there is no text or story, but the music works in some way as a double element of information: the dramatic, carrying emotions and moods, and the purely technical, based on the pace, strength, and speed of information. The two faces alternate their speeds in the first two movements, which would function respectively as a recitative and an aria.
From the middle of the work, thanks to the intervention of a theatrical element that suddenly provides a much more concrete meaning, the roles are questioned and the movements are “contradicted”: the third movement is a recitative without emotion or dramaturgy, and the fourth one is an aria with changing emotions.
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