Marco Ramelli
Les Productions D’ Oz: 7 pages
The dedicatee of this piece, Lorenzo Micheli, has done a superb performance of this work on YouTube, so that is a great place to start for any interested players.
Set in one movement this works asks for a 6th string to a low C#, which is a slightly unusual occurrence, so much so that for a while the 6th string notes have a roman numeral indicating the actual fret , you will find the note , underneath the notation. Marked Con Espressione this work immediately establishes itself as very emotional, and often very chromatic, which together with the unusual scordatura, places the player at a considerable disadvantage unless a lot of preparatory work is done.
The two voices that open the piece, a high melody often with unusual rhythms, set above a low counter – melody, then at bar 9 move into three voices and then into 4, so that by the end of the first 12 bars, the music is quite a handful . Then a Piu Mosso 7/8, marked Ritmico leads the piece into another direction entirely and here great care has to be taken with the rhythms that are constantly crossing over the beat, whilst the actual voices are still in2 and sometimes 3 parts. A Piu Pesante then takes over, somewhat less frenetic, until a further dropping of tempo at Piu Lento, bar 54 takes the piece into a passage of semi – quaver triplets, again in three voices. A sudden variety in time signatures at the end of this section then leads into the final Meditativo where the music quietens down until finally finishing on a low pair of octave C#s.
This is an unusual and very emotional piece of writing with a modern tang to the harmonies that will divide the players amongst you, so listen to the performance if you have any doubts. The writing is definitely advanced all the way through.
Chris Dumigan