Martin Kutnowski Upcoming performance in Korea of Al ver mis horas de fiebre (Seeing My Feverish Hours/Tandis que mes heures de fièvre) in its premiere for violin and piano. I. Rima XVI: Si al mecer las azules campanillas II. Rima LXI: Al ver mis horas de fiebre III. Rima XV: Cendal flotante de leve bruma Al ver mis horas de fiebre is the first line of Rima LXI by Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (1836-1870), Spains best known and most universally admired poet of the nineteenth century. I adopted this line (“Seeing my feverish hours”) as the title and all-encompassing theme of my piece. Its three movements, all inspired by separate Rimas and intended as musical renderings of the literary images and emotions present in the poems, explore some of the altered, drug-like states caused by romantic love. Whether wind, sea, light, sound, or even death itself, all are transfigured and left in turmoil by the addictive, irresistible, unfulfilled attraction to the beloved. Program Notes by the commissioner, Dr. Janet Thom Hammock With Al ver mis horas de fiebre Martin Kutnowski undertook a gargantuan task: to re- create in sound the images, the feeling, and the history of the poet, of his poetry, and of the era—in fact, key aspects of the history of Spains creative past—simultaneously. His intention was to move deeply beneath the surface of Bécquer the poet, to feel what he might have felt as a creative writer living in the once magnificent, splendorous Seville, a city with a rich tradition which Bécquer honoured, but which in the nineteenth century was falling into ruin, a city haunted by its glorious past. There are elements of the poets personal and artistic life and expression which resonate deeply with contemporary audiences. One could empathize with Bécquers (Romantic) anguish arising from his unrequited love for a woman, or Bécquers unconditional love for his children which continued unabated until his death. Bécquers personal desperation, his helpless longing for happiness that seemed unattainable, together with his intuitive sensitivity to the immediate political/historical moment in the Spain in which he lived, unite in his poetry as well as in the Spanish obsession with life and death in an almost mystical way. Martin Kutnowski used a unique harmonic language which is utterly different from any in his past compositions—a harmonic language reminiscent both of Bécquers era, with its melodramatic, idiosyncratic chord progressions, and of todays world. His musical references to other romantic styles and works was completely intentional: to remind the listeners of musics historical meaning, and to evoke in them immediate and visceral sound/emotional associations. Kutnowski openly embraced stylistic references, and through them sought out a new and poetically-appropriate musical context, a palimpsest or fusion of old and new. The musical panorama of Al ver mis horas de fiebre is as dramatically and vividly coloured as the poetic images in the poems which inspired it. Yet on the microscopic level it is delicately embroidered in elaborate musical melismas, reminiscent of the traditional Spanish mosaic style. Each musical phrase is the exhalation of a breath—the music “breaths out” the words, the feeling, the essence, of the poetry of Becquer
Posted on: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 22:07:53 +0000
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