Aida Shirazi, Meditations on Departure with Anssi Karttunen

Описание: Aida Shirazi, Mediations on Departure
For Cello and Orchestra

Written for and dedicated to Anssi Karttunen;
Premiered by Anssi Karttunen and UC Davis Symphony Orchestra,
Conductor: Christian Baldini;
Jackson Hall, Mondavi Center;
June 1, 2024.

Notes from composer Aida Shirazi - ‪@aidashrz‬
Meditations on Departure draws from personal and universal experiences to explore departure, loss, and longing in five vignettes.

In this work, I have tried to give the cello a semi-human "voice" quality to narrate, sing, breathe, sigh, and simply embody the experience of departure and loss. The generally sparse texture of the orchestra provides an open space for the cello to be at the front and center of the narrative.

I. Soliloquy: The cello plays a solo part consisting of a melodic gesture which is repeated obsessively and undergoes subtle variations. The extended dynamic range, microtonal nuances, and techniques create these subtle variations and give this simple melodic gesture a dynamic character.

II. Rupture: The cello multiphonics alongside the backdrop of metallic sounds in the orchestra create an unstable and fragile soundscape that resembles breakage. Here, the inevitable rupture is a painstakingly long process that unfolds and evolves in time.

III. Stay!: This is a plea to the departee to stay. It is a dialogue between the cello and orchestra that mourns being left behind. The cello sighs, weeps, and longs with another motif, and when the cello retreats to silence, the orchestra breathes and echoes the embedded harmonic content of this motif as blocks of chords.

IV: Disappearance: In the aftermath of departure, there is a void, in which the cello trembles and stutters without any answers or resolution.

V: Shadows: This is a quiet elegy that contemplates what there is and what could have been. It is the realm of impossible possibilities. Prolonged melodic lines on the cello are shadowed by soloists in the string section, while the rest of the orchestra articulates this prolonged and gradually transforming melodic line in a chorale-like texture. At the end, shadows disappear and turn this meditation into dust.