Beyond the 20th Century – Harmonies and Dissonances
Pianos | Jefferson Mello and João Luís Rosa
Percussion | João Paias and Tiago Pires
Ensemble Artis XXI assumes a variable instrumental formation, according to the musical proposals, and includes teachers from the Lagoa Arts Conservatory and guests. In this program, he brings to the public works that are rarely heard due to their unusual combination of instruments, piano and percussion. The concert will begin with the famous Prelude L’Après-midi d’un Faune by the composer Claude Debussy, in the version for two pianos, and will end with the great Sonata for two Pianos and Percussion by Béla Bartók. As a way of reflecting the territory where Ensemble Artis XXI operates, and in order to promote contemporary female music production, an order was placed with the composer Teresa Gentil who will see her world premiere in this closing concert of the III Piano Festival 2022. The theme of this order will be a reflection on water scarcity and its impact on the Algarve region. The title of the work will be decided by the young people from Lagos through a competition launched at the ESPAMOL school.
Prelude to L’Après-midi d’un Faune
L’Après-midi d’un Faune, Symbolist poem by Frenchman Stéphane Mallarmé. is the motto of inspiration for this musical work written by Claude Debussy. The poem, presented here in the form of a monologue, talks about the sensual thoughts of a Faun and his persecutions of the nymphs, after waking up from a siesta.
The symphonic poem Prélude à L’Après-midi d’un Faune was composed in 1894 by Claude Debussy. Pierre Boulez considered it to be the first work of music of the modern era. In 1895 Claude Debussy transcribed this work for two pianos, a version that integrates this program.
*Faun – country deity, half-man half-goat with pointed ears and short horns;
Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion,
Béla-Bartók, Hungarian pianist, ethnomusicologist and composer, composed this Sonata in 1937, where he combined Hungarian folk rhythms in an unusual way, both in terms of composition and instrumentation. The work is performed by four instrumentalists, two pianists and two percussionists, who follow clear instructions for the arrangement of their instruments. The composer recalls the percutive capabilities of the pianos, which he maintains as a foreground throughout the work, contrasting with a “kind of neutral canvas prepared by the drums, lit by the xylophone and the triangle, heated by the tam-tam and splashed – softly and aggressively – by glittering cymbals” (as John Henken puts it, in a review in La Phil).
Program
C. Debussy – Prélude à l’après-midi d’un Faune (version for 2 pianos by C. Debussy)
Teresa Gentil** – Work commissioned for the III Piano Festival
Béla Bartók – Sonata for two pianos and percussion