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 / Jan Pouwels
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Violin and orchestra
Scoring:
2222 3230 timp perc str vl-solo
Concerto pour violon et orchestre / Sedje Hémon
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Violin and orchestra
Scoring:
2001 1000 str vl-solo
Podium-suite : pour violon et orchestre, opus 3 / [instrumentation: juillet 1948], Géza Frid
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Violin and orchestra
Scoring:
2222 1100 timp perc 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