related works
The Grey Tree : for Chinese chamber orchestra / Edward Top
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Large ensemble (12 or more players)
Scoring:
2dizi 2sheng suona 2perc yangqin pipa ruan guzheng 4erhu 2zhonghu vc db
2nd violin concerto : for solo violin and orchestra, 1996 / Hanna Kulenty
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Violin and orchestra
Scoring:
4fl 4ob 4cl 3fg fg(cfg) 6h 4trp 4trb tb timp 2perc hp pf str(16.14.12.10.8.) vl-solo
Evocation : for violin and orchestra, 1990 / Chiel Meijering
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Violin and orchestra
Scoring:
2222 2221 2perc pf(cel) 2hp str vl-solo
Concerto no 3 : for violin and orchestra, 1993 / Hans Kox
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Violin and orchestra
Scoring:
fl ob cl fg 2h 2trp str vl-solo
composition
My Skeletonized Portrait : for violin and orchestra / Edward Top
Other authors:
Top, Edward
(Composer)
Description:
This 10-minute work is based on the etching with the same title of Belgian artist James Ensor. On separate panels, it shows two states of the artist himself. One is a ‘skeletonized’ version of the other, as if the artist celebrates the wearing of his own death mask. This transformation from one state to the next, from the real to the surreal, from the ordinary to the grotesque is the main element in the composition. The orchestral introduction already shows this process of transformation. The first violins play the initial phrase of a melody in the style of Tchaikovsky that is soon brought into a surrealistic realm of celesta, harp and strings harmonics. This process is then applied to the large form. The violin solo expands the initial phrase after which the mood entirely changes into a grotesque dance, entitled ‘Entry of the Masked Skeletons’. ‘My Schizoid Portrait’ is the subtitle of a cadenza-like section, which culminates in a grand and slow postlude.
Edward Top