FA+
Shop
232
Views
Views
0
Favorites
Favorites
Category
Music / Classical
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 115 x 120
File Size 2.1 MB
Report this content
More from ComposerFox
(Whoops, uploaded the wrong file at first... last of 3 movements... an unconventional ending, read the program notes!)
Piece for solo cello, performed by a student at a Fall '07 recital. It was a fantastic performance, the cellist really got into the imagery and mood!
While writing this piece I imagined a gargoyle not of the usual grotesque
variety but instead one of grace and subtle, desolate beauty. It begins
softly in the lowest register of the cello, depicting this creature poised
stoically in the rain. There he laments in cold silence, as the cello
stretches into its upper register and mulls over several melodic and
intervallic ideas. In the second movement, as the cello settles into the
unexplored space of its middle register, he gets up and walks through a
barren stone city. Rigid and static gestures suggest him wandering
methodically through streets that all look the same. He finally approaches
a tower which he ascends, spreading his wings in a sudden show of
animation, and the cello likewise begins to briefly break from its
registeral and rhythmic constraints. As he reaches the top and looks
outward, the third movement begins. Beyond him is empty space, and he
looks out equally barren. The occasional sound of rock tumbling echoes in
the abyss, and he remains poised and still, wings spread, going nowhere;
he is stone, and he cannot fly.
Piece for solo cello, performed by a student at a Fall '07 recital. It was a fantastic performance, the cellist really got into the imagery and mood!
While writing this piece I imagined a gargoyle not of the usual grotesque
variety but instead one of grace and subtle, desolate beauty. It begins
softly in the lowest register of the cello, depicting this creature poised
stoically in the rain. There he laments in cold silence, as the cello
stretches into its upper register and mulls over several melodic and
intervallic ideas. In the second movement, as the cello settles into the
unexplored space of its middle register, he gets up and walks through a
barren stone city. Rigid and static gestures suggest him wandering
methodically through streets that all look the same. He finally approaches
a tower which he ascends, spreading his wings in a sudden show of
animation, and the cello likewise begins to briefly break from its
registeral and rhythmic constraints. As he reaches the top and looks
outward, the third movement begins. Beyond him is empty space, and he
looks out equally barren. The occasional sound of rock tumbling echoes in
the abyss, and he remains poised and still, wings spread, going nowhere;
he is stone, and he cannot fly.
Category Music / Classical
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 115 x 120px
File Size 2.1 MB
The final piece seems less able to hold my attention than the first two, I blame this partly on the massive amounts of caffeine coursing through my bloodstream, partly on the long pauses. No offense?
Otherwise I like the imagery, I shall listen to this a few more times and see if I'm not mistaken. While I can't say I'd think of a gargoyle myself if I listened to the piece before reading your description, it's definitely sure that the whole composition has the right emotions. Especially this third movement, the drawn-out notes really seem to me the final, resigned acceptance of the gargoyle. "he is stone, and he cannot fly." Yet he spread his wings and climbed a tower only a movement ago! (I love interpreting stuff, this is just me) A sad ending for a creature with so much potential for life.
...and yet, the gargoyle was always stone, and the desolation he sees on the horizon reflects the nothingness he feels within. A stone gargoyle cannot live, what he shows is only motion, an attempt at life that is, in the end, hollow and gray like the stone he's made from.
So it seems this gargoyle will never come out of the tension he lives in - he wishes for life, and is alone in the abandoned city, cold and miserable. Even though he might move and even fly, he will never live, and finally accepts this in Stoic resolution. Sad.
I love all three movements, and although I did my best to pick them apart, I simply can't find anything wrong with them. You're an excellent composer, and you really deserve to take off with this talent of yours!
(Is there any chance we might see the whole thing in one track?)
Otherwise I like the imagery, I shall listen to this a few more times and see if I'm not mistaken. While I can't say I'd think of a gargoyle myself if I listened to the piece before reading your description, it's definitely sure that the whole composition has the right emotions. Especially this third movement, the drawn-out notes really seem to me the final, resigned acceptance of the gargoyle. "he is stone, and he cannot fly." Yet he spread his wings and climbed a tower only a movement ago! (I love interpreting stuff, this is just me) A sad ending for a creature with so much potential for life.
...and yet, the gargoyle was always stone, and the desolation he sees on the horizon reflects the nothingness he feels within. A stone gargoyle cannot live, what he shows is only motion, an attempt at life that is, in the end, hollow and gray like the stone he's made from.
So it seems this gargoyle will never come out of the tension he lives in - he wishes for life, and is alone in the abandoned city, cold and miserable. Even though he might move and even fly, he will never live, and finally accepts this in Stoic resolution. Sad.
I love all three movements, and although I did my best to pick them apart, I simply can't find anything wrong with them. You're an excellent composer, and you really deserve to take off with this talent of yours!
(Is there any chance we might see the whole thing in one track?)
Wow, that's a great response! I was really thinking when I wrote it if he was resigning to a fate that wasn't necessary or if he was truly nothing but stone and trying to be something he wasn't. Aesthetically the ending is quite disappointing, but that's the point! So that's why at the recital I was careful to emphasize the importance of the program notes. Thanks very much for the kind words, and taking all that time to think it through/respond! It means alot!
Interesting, definitely. And I agree with the "unconventional" chracterisation. Although the focus on pauses may be a wee bit much in this part (might be an idea to concentratet them more into the last minute). Still, the harmonies are as beautiful as in the last too movements, and the whole piece definitely has a lot more style than most of the electronic FA submissions I've listened to.
I also agree with the previous poster about putting these together into one track if it doesn't impact sound quality too much.
I also agree with the previous poster about putting these together into one track if it doesn't impact sound quality too much.
Comments