composer
Edward Top was born in Ommen, the Netherlands, in 1972. Top has lived and worked in London, Bangkok, and Rotterdam. He now lives in Vancouver, Canada. Top studied composition and ...
related works
Farewell Songs : for countertenor, Baroque ensemble, and Chinese instruments / Edward Top
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Voice and instrument(s)
Scoring:
zzang suona 2erhu saxkbut perc cemb vn vc db
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
Concert : voor 2 violen en orkest / Hans Kox
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Violin and orchestra
Scoring:
2202 0220 timp perc vibr str 2vl-solo
Concerto : for violin and orchestra, 1983/84 / Rudi M. van Dijk
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Violin and orchestra
Scoring:
3232 4231 timp perc hp pf str vl-solo
composition
My Skeletonized Portrait : for violin and orchestra / Edward Top
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