Located in the UK
Located in the USA
Located in Europe
- Avner Dorman
Piccolo Concerto (2001)
- G Schirmer Inc (World)
- pf/str (min. 6.5.4.3.1)
- piano or 2 pianos
- Piccolo
- 15 min
Programme Note
Composer’s Note:
Originally, Lior Eitan commissioned me to write a piece for piccolo and harp. While I was composing the first movement, I felt that the music was more fitting to be a concerto. When Lior came over and read the first movement, we both agreed this was the case. As in traditional concertos, Piccolo Concerto has three movements — fast, slow, fast. The musical material is drawn from diverse musical genres and styles: Baroque and Classical music, Ethnic music, Jazz, and Popular music.
Baroque and Classical — The first movement is based on the classical sonata form. Throughout the piece, there are several fugues and canons. I also use many sequential patterns and other clichés of 18th century music in this piece.
Ethnic — to my ears, the Piccolo’s bottom octave sounds very similar to Middle Eastern shepherd’s flutes. In the second movement, especially, I emphasize this similarity by using characteristic modes of Middle-Eastern music, as well as common styles of ornamentation from the region. Another reference to my home region is the imitation of the sounds of desert winds and of the Mediterranean Sea in the second part of the movement.
Jazz and Popular music — From the very first notes of the concerto, the juxtaposition of a steady beat in the bass with syncopations in the upper parts serves as a key compositional technique in this piece. Frequently, the classical and ethnic motives are accompanied by short repetitive patterns. In vast sections of the piece, the soloist’s part is supposed to sound as if it is an improvisation. In certain sections of the piece, these repetitive rhythms together with the Basso-Continuo lines emulate modern drum-machines.
Originally, Lior Eitan commissioned me to write a piece for piccolo and harp. While I was composing the first movement, I felt that the music was more fitting to be a concerto. When Lior came over and read the first movement, we both agreed this was the case. As in traditional concertos, Piccolo Concerto has three movements — fast, slow, fast. The musical material is drawn from diverse musical genres and styles: Baroque and Classical music, Ethnic music, Jazz, and Popular music.
Baroque and Classical — The first movement is based on the classical sonata form. Throughout the piece, there are several fugues and canons. I also use many sequential patterns and other clichés of 18th century music in this piece.
Ethnic — to my ears, the Piccolo’s bottom octave sounds very similar to Middle Eastern shepherd’s flutes. In the second movement, especially, I emphasize this similarity by using characteristic modes of Middle-Eastern music, as well as common styles of ornamentation from the region. Another reference to my home region is the imitation of the sounds of desert winds and of the Mediterranean Sea in the second part of the movement.
Jazz and Popular music — From the very first notes of the concerto, the juxtaposition of a steady beat in the bass with syncopations in the upper parts serves as a key compositional technique in this piece. Frequently, the classical and ethnic motives are accompanied by short repetitive patterns. In vast sections of the piece, the soloist’s part is supposed to sound as if it is an improvisation. In certain sections of the piece, these repetitive rhythms together with the Basso-Continuo lines emulate modern drum-machines.
— Avner Dorman