Per Nørgård: Tributes - Album For Strings (Score)

Beskrivning

Programnote TRIBUTES - ALBUM FOR STRINGS (1994-95)I: FOUR OBSERVATIONS – FROM AN INFINTE RAPPORT – hommage a Bartok (1995)II: OUT OF THIS WORLD – hommage a Lutoslawski (1994)III: VOYAGE INTO THE BROKEN SCREEN - hommage a Sibelius (1995)Please notice that Per Nørgård wrote 2 programme notes for the work.You may use what might be useful for the concert.SHORT VERSION: “TRIBUTES – album for strings” (1994-95) includes three hommages, which might also be performed separately.The shared point of departure was the hommage to three major composers of the 20th century – Bartok, Lutoslawski and Sibelius.In FOUR OBSERVATIONS the hommage is to Bartok (on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his death 1995). Hungarian Radio asked me to write a piece in his honor, but apart from the very last unison string figure , which is - I think - very Bartokian, the work in no way intends to evoke, even less to imitate, the musical style of the great Hungarian master. This would be an act of impudence against a composer who was such an exceptionally integrated personality, and who has himself shown (in 'Mikrokosmos') the worthy way to pay a personal tribute to highly respected colleagues: In 'Hommage á J.S.B.' and 'Hommage à R. Sch.' Bela Bartok composes in his own manner but lets the music reflect some qualities of the said composers, as perceived in Bartok's mind. In a similar way my 'Observations from an infinite Rapport' reflects as well the timeless proportions of the 'golden section' - which seem to have inspired Bartok so much, - in his great respect for perceptive, structural patterns. OUT OF THIS WORLD" was composed at the request of a group of Lutoslawski's friends, as a symbol of parting to a great composer and a noble man. The title quotes a poem by Yunus Emre, the Turkish 14th century poet. The opening line of the poem 'Biz dünyadan' reads as follows in English translation: 'We are on the way out of this world, we send our greetings to those left behind...'"VOYAGE INTO THE BROKEN SCREEN" is a hommage to Sibelius. The title refers to my 27 years older work, in which the title-ending 'into the golden Screen' suggests a blank surface. Here the 'broken screen' refers to the multilayered 'broken' harmonic partials, quasi-chaotic in their rhythmic multiplicity of golden proportions. In Sibelius' music I've always admired the unique sense of the 'natural sound', the harmonic partials among others.This concluding movement of my "Book for Strings" was composed as a dedication to Juha Kangas, the leader of the Easter Bothnic Chamber Orchestra - on the occasion of his 50th birthday in November 1995.The total duration of "Tributes, Album for Strings": appr. 18 min. (5 min. – 7 min. – 5 min.)Per Nørgård----LONGER VERSION:"TRIBUTES – album for strings” (1994-95) includes three hommages, which might also be performed separately.The shared point of departure was the hommage to three major composers of the 20th century – Bartok, Lutoslawski and Sibelius.My “Tributes” has a somewhat “cool” attitude, motivated by the reasons for their creation.But how can a composer make a real tribute to a colleague without falling in the pit of ´pale pastiche production´?My answer to the question was expressed in the comment to the first tribute “Four observations – from an infinite rapport” – to Bela Bartok – a commission from the Hungarian radio to commemorate the 5oth year of his death: the way that Bartok himself musically showed his"