麻豆社

Matthew Kaner is Radio 3鈥檚 Embedded Composer in 3, in partnership with Sound and Music. Listen to the tenth of Matthew's weekly commissions for 70 at 70, a series of musical and cultural commissions to mark 70 years of 麻豆社 Radio 3.

Matthew writes:

"The initial idea for Glints in the Water came from a solo piano piece by the South Korean composer Unsuk Chin (Etude No. 5). Though perhaps best known for her stage and ensemble works (such as Alice in Wonderland) that explore vivid, fantastical and sometimes even uncanny sonic worlds, she鈥檚 also written a brilliant set of solo etudes for the piano. These engage very much with the tradition of virtuosic studies for the instrument, but also some feature highly personal and imaginative textures that I find absolutely captivating.

Amongst these I鈥檓 particularly drawn to the one entitled Toccata, which features thrilling pulsing staccato notes throughout, in a real test of the player鈥檚 technique. The effect is both pointillistic and very resonant; the fast semiquavers come together to form rich and sonorous harmonies as they gather towards a frenetic climax.

So in my piece you鈥檒l hear similarly pointed textures for the piano from the very start. However, I鈥檝e taken an entirely different approach to the violin and cello, which play long melodic phrases together against the piano鈥檚 glittering semiquavers. (The results are perhaps comparable to points of light reflected in a flowing river.) Later these expansive lines come more to the fore in a stiller section, which the piano responds to with quiet bell-like echoes.

Finally, all three instruments come together in a kind of reprise of the energetic opening, with dancing pizzicato notes in the strings to compliment the bursts of staccato notes and chords in the piano."

Musicians: Trio Isimsiz

Image: the glint on the water from the sun at Eilean Donan Castle, near Kyle of Lochalsh (麻豆社)

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