Alvaro Carlevaro: Taschenstücke

Folklore plus short form. These are the concepts behind the pocket pieces. ‘Tango, candombe, murga, triste, zamba…’ are some of the more or less well-known musical forms from the banks of the Río de la Plata–the river that separates Uruguay and Argentina.

 

Some aspects and elements of these musical forms are influenced by the colonial era and immigrants from Europe and Africa, and I have abstracted and dismantled them and placed them in new, different perspectives, angles and contexts. This resulted in these six short pieces for small chamber ensemble, written for the Ensemble Ascolta: murga, piano (candombe), cumpar… (tango I), triste, zamba, …sita (tango II).

 

Apart from this general introductory explanation, the descriptions of the approaches and procedures are of a compositional nature, as are the sometimes rapid and sudden transformations, collisions, rethinking, ‘questioning’ and overcoming the aforementioned and newly illuminated elements in very brief time dimensions, are suspected of not actually playing an essential role in the music itself. But important: no folklore in the conventional sense, and: small musical ‘frescoes’ rather than idyllic postcards.

(Alvaro Carlevaro)