related works
The stillpoint : for violin and vibraphone, opus 4, 1994/1995 / Edward Top
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Mixed ensemble (2-12 players)
Scoring:
vibr vl
Concert : voor viool met begeleiding van orkest / Sem Dresden
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Violin and orchestra
Scoring:
2122 0301 timp 2perc xyl 8cb vl-solo
Sept Mouvements : for violin and viola solo and orchestra / Jan-Peter de Graaff
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Violin and orchestra
Scoring:
vln/vla-solo picc 2fl ob eh cl cl-b 2fg sax-sopr sax-a 4h 2tpt flüg 2trb trb-b tb pf cel hp timp perc str
Concerto : for violin and orchestra / Benjamin Ashkenazy
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Violin and orchestra
Scoring:
vl-solo 2fl 2ob 2cl 2fg 2h 2trp pf perc str
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