Programme note:

de sol y grana

The title is a line from a poem by Antonio Machado, and roughly translates as "of sun(light) and scarlet". In this poem he likens his songs to bubbles, and describes his delight at watching them set off, float in the air, glimmer (with sunlight and scarlet), and then burst. The nine short sections of this violin concerto are little bubbles of music in which the violin and ensemble come into a particular relationship and hover there for a few moments before disintegrating into something new. Each 'bubble' behaves quite differently: some hang in the air relatively serenely while others are considerably more volatile and unpredictable.

 

21 factoids about de sol y grana:

1. de sol y grana roughly translates as 'of sun(light) and scarlet'.
2. It's from a poem by Antonio Machado in which he uses these words to describe the glittering surface of soap bubbles.
3. I often use texts, especially poetry, to help me focus my thoughts for a piece, but I very rarely try to depict these texts in the music itself.
4. I'm a violinist, writing a violin concerto. The music comes from my fingers. They don't always go where I intend/expect them.
5. This is a really fun way of composing: you are physically 'in contact' with the music all the time.
6. This is a really inefficient way of composing: you can while away entire days playing around with a chunk of music, trying to get it to 'feel' right, instead of engaging your brain.
7. There are nine sections in the piece. I wrote them in the order 7-1-4-9-5-8-3-2-6. This seemed like the sensible thing to do at the time.
8. Microtones can be used to produce absolutely gorgeous sounds.
9. Microtones don't necessarily produce absolutely gorgeous sounds.
10. I spent weeks playing chords on my microtonal keyboard and melodies on my microtonal violin making sure the harmonic structure of the piece was full of 8
11. Having the option of a veritable battery of percussion, I was slightly surprised to realise on completing the piece that I had only used four separate instruments.
12. (Vibraphone, cabasa, suspended cymbal (bowed), marimba).
13. I love harmonics, their sparkly glistening bodiless magical sound. I had planned for the solo part to be full of them.
14. It isn't, but the orchestral strings certainly have more than their fair share.
15. Time signatures of the form 3/4+1/16 are a nuisance to typeset, especially when it comes to extracting parts.
16. Extracting orchestral parts is the dullest component of fulfilling a commission, but at least you can have old episodes of QI playing on YouTube in the background.
17. This is why it is essential for composers to have two computer monitors.
18. I don't know about 'demystification'; I'm sitting here with a freshly printed score on my desk and already it seems alien.
19. Aliens are cool.
20. By which I mean: one of the (many) wonderful things about being a composer is hearing the new life your music takes on in the hands of the performers; once you've handed it over, it's not your music anymore.
21. Or not only yours, at least.