S. Robles: Súnkithara II (première) | HEM Ensemble de guitares
Súnkithara II, written by Sebastian Robles in spring 2023. Performed in Salle de la Bourse at the HEM Genève on May 12th 2023 by the HEM Guitar Ensemble.
00:10 - I. Passacaglia
A traditional passacaglia is a set of variations written upon a repeating bass line. The repeating melody found in the bass, called the subject, provides both integrity and structure to the form. This passacaglia is different because the subject is not to be found at the bottom of the texture but rather at the middle. I could have easily, therefore, named the movement “variations on a melody” instead of “passacaglia.” I wanted, however, to call it a passacaglia in order to illustrate a particular aspect of reality. The aspect is this: the ground is not to be found under our feet but in the center of and throughout existence. The thing we place our feet on is not the ground. The ground is more comparable to a solid beam which radiates into and out of the human chest. This is very good news because it means that we do not have to lie down on the floor to feel secure. The ground supports us even as we walk around going about our daily tasks.
06:21 - II. Fugue
The second movement of this piece is a fugue, but it, like the passacaglia, is unique. It is a fugue whose subject is so drawn out and has so much space between each note that one has a hard time identifying it after a couple voices have entered in. Our attention is drawn to the shorter, faster, and more recognizable motives that fill in the space between the slow notes of the subject. This also is to illustrate a particular aspect of reality. The aspect is this: the most fundamental, important, and basic temporal gestures evade our awareness by the simple fact that they are too large and too slow for us to observe, especially since we are distracted by the frantic details of our day-to-day lives. But these slow gestures do exist and they are, in fact, observable and comprehensible, as long as we discipline ourselves by taking enough steps back that they become visible.
HEM Guitar Ensemble
Electric guitar - Florian Colombet
Guitar (left to right) - Alice Brandao, Maja Kralj, Eric Meier, Enrique Perez, Manuel Toucinho, Bastien Mouly, Guy Hirschberger, Marcus Forster, Camille Peron, Camille Guillaume, Jeanne Manouck, Zhanxiang Shi, Yun Duan.
Bass guitar - Benoît Mussard
Direction - Sebastian Robles
Buy score: https://www.sebastianroblesmusic.com/store
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