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PROGRAM NOTE back to Program Notes Last modified 17 April 2025 Colombi Daydream (2010) from Mystery Variations Colombi Daydream is based upon the 17th-century Chiacona per basso solo by Giuseppe Colombi (1635-1694). It involves iterative patterns, as the original does, but their nature and the attitude taken towards material and sound, depart in whimsical ways – a kind of daydreaming – from Colombi's world. Fives and the number 50 itself are at work in the current piece as well. The desired effect is of a broad, effortless pulsation. Many strategies have been used to color the influence of relentless iteration. The score's alternative strings and harmonics as well as tempi may be adjusted as the performer wishes, in keeping with my larger scenario, if these changes improve the outcome. For this piece is to be understood as a scenario rather than as prescriptive. The widest possible timbral pallet and variegated dynamic landscape should nevertheless at no time disturb the sense of "effortless pulsation." Colombi Daydream was written as a fiftieth birthday tribute to the remarkable Finnish cellist, Anssi Karttunen, at the request of Kaija Saariaho. Karttunen gave his premiere performance of Mystery Variations at Festival Présences (Radio France) at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris on 12 February 2011. – Roger Reynolds |
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