Program Note
Written for Ensemble Dal Niente. The titles of each movement give way to a pseudo-programmatic description of the work: Twisted Web, Chant, and Still. I like to think of song, lyricism, and melody as akin to one another or one in the same thing. They are somewhat transformed in Entangled Chant. Melody fights for the spotlight amongst the entangled sounds of the first movement while it is then transformed into a chant-like (not Gregorian chant but song of the purest kind) or later a lyrical character in the second movement. The third movement, as the title implies, obliterates song for the most part until the end, when small utterances are heard in the violin and cello. Think of song, melody, or lyricism as caught in the web of a spider, struggling and trying its hardest to break loose. Does it have hope of survival or escape? Or is it for too long caught in the web of a hungry spider?
- Gilbert Galindo