Resisting Stillness (1996)

Resisting Stillness, for two guitars (1996)

A fundamental lyricism has been a defining characteristic of Chester Biscardi’s (b. 1948) music throughout his career, and Resisting Stillness (1996) is no exception. This is music where rhythmic sense is extremely fluid and leisurely, which projects meaning above all through the delicate interplay of timbre and pitch. Like much of Biscardi’s work, there is an impressionistic sensitivity to the expressive power of pure sound wedded to the bel canto line — the two guitars become like a single dreamy meta-instrument, dropping handfuls of glistening harmonics that dapple the music’s surface like light on water. Musical images evoke memory, time, and the cyclical nature of existence. The title suggests a way of listening to the work and reflects Biscardi’s creative struggle at the time of its writing — a personal “pulling up from silence.” This work was commissioned by the Cygnus Ensemble and the International Guitar Festival of Morelia (Mihoacan, Mexico) for William Anderson and Oren Fader (Anderson/Fader Duo).