From the engraved score of Aequale "alla maniera di madrigale spirituale" [Philip Daniel; 2020]

Aequale "alla maniera di madrigale spirituale" [Philip Daniel; 2020] [SCROLLING SCORE]

By PhilipDaniel | Musica Melopoetica | 28 Jul 2020


 

 

 

 

A dramatically intense, harmonically luxuriant Aequale for two B♭ Trumpets, two Tenor Trombones, and one F Tuba. The title, Italian for "in the manner of a spiritual madrigal", defies literal interpretation, as the approach to melody, harmony, counterpoint, voice-leading, structure et al manifests a language more modernist in its orientation than archaic or historicist. Particularly, as regards harmony, the extended harmonic palette of successive "post-triadic" chords, with dissonances delayed in resolution (if resolved at all), places this work firmly within the bounds of an Expressionist-type early modernism. Nevertheless, in the course of this concise tripartite monothematic-developmental form -- wherein exposition, development, and recapitulation emerge, then dissipate, in a flash -- a quasi-religious fervor or ecstasy predominates, one in which awe and holy terror at Sublime Eternity reifies through the silvery timbre of the ensemble, through the passionate phrases with which the work opens and closes, to (in the central development section) the tuba's thunderously imposing descending passagework.

 

 

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PhilipDaniel
PhilipDaniel

I am a young composer working in a highly personal Late Romantic idiom.


Musica Melopoetica
Musica Melopoetica

Music theory and composition, music history, (ethno)musicology, aesthetic philosophy, and much much more, presented in a readily accessible manner.

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