Matthew Davidson

2232 2110 perc(2), celesta, harp, piano, strings

1. Taqsim; 2. Troppo adagio; 3. Hwan ya ako tie fie na ontaa; 4. It was a lover and his lass
This
work is not really a conventional concerto, nor is it a symphony, but
rather, a hybrid of the two. The first movement is inspired by Egyptian
Oud music, and is a series of variations on a nine-note mode of my own
invention. Each subsequent variation before and after the "Taqsim" has a
number of measures divisible by nine. This is also true for some groups
of time-signatures. While this may seem arbitrary, in fact it is (we
composers often are an arbitrary lot). The second movement is a pastiche
of how Bruckner might have written a slow movement to a concerto if he
had ever written one (however, melodies of Basque and Czech baroque
origin are employed). Movement three is titled after an aphorism in Twee
(a West African language) and means, metaphorically, "I'm no better
than you are." While using Ligeti's concept of placing two diatonic
melodies a minor ninth apart, it also moves into different bi-tonal key
signatures, thereby providing some harmonic movement (although not
movement in the conventional western sense). It also emulates some
African dance music where often one finds regular beats of unequal
length. The final movement uses two Renaissance melodies as its
foundation, "A la Guerra, a la Guerra" and the title melody. In
addition, there is a melody for the second group (we are dealing with
sonata form, here) which has its origins in the folk music of the langue
d'Oc region of France.