related works
Concerto : for violin and two orchestras / Edward Top
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Violin and orchestra
Scoring:
vl-solo 2picc(fl) 2ob cl(cl-b) fg(cfg) 2trp 2trb tb-b perc hp pf(synth) str
Concerto pour violon et orchestre : 1975 / Rob du Bois
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Violin and orchestra
Scoring:
4232 2sax 4321 perc hp 2el.g man pf(el.org) str vl-solo
Concerto Nº 3 : for violin and orchestra / 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
composition
My Skeletonized Portrait : for violin and orchestra / Edward Top
Author(s):
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