Oboe(s) solo
SKU:
BR.EB-9240
For
Solo Oboe. Composed
by Jorg Birkenkotter.
Solo instruments;
stapled. Edition
Breitkopf. Solo concerto;
Music post-1945; New
music (post-2000). Score.
Composed 2013/14. 16
pages. Duration 13'30.
Breitkopf and Haertel #EB
9240. Published by
Breitkopf and Haertel
(BR.EB-9240).
ISBN
9790004185407. 9 x 12
inches.
Belcanto is
a term for the Italian
art of singing which took
its development from the
richly ornamented solo
vocalism of the early
17th century (nobile
maniera di cantare) and
dominated European
operatic singing until
the first half of the
19th century. Complete
control over the voice
meant not only legato and
messa di voce, but also
appoggiatura and
portamento, as well as
virtuoso ornamentation by
means of coloratura
(canto fiorito). This
development towards
utmost virtuosity,
emulating instrumental
playing techniques, led
to a mannered, artificial
style on the one hand,
but on the other also
emphasized the physical
aspects of interpretation
(castrati were considered
the ideal belcanto
singers). And today? In
his essay The Grain of
the Voice, Roland Barthes
writes: The grain is the
body in the voice as it
sings, the hand as it
writes and the limb as it
performs. Initially, he
refers to the friction
between language and
voice in singing, but
then transfers his
thoughts to the
physicality of
instrumental music. In
this spirit, I went in
search of beautiful
singing, a beauty which
perhaps results in the
very place where the
grain, the roughness,
meaning also physical
resistance, are not
smoothed over. The oboe
seemed very suitable to
me for singing with such
a physical expressivity,
as a very unruly
instrument! The backbone
of my piece is one
single, quasi endless
melodic line, consisting
of intervals that are
constantly pulled apart
and contracted again
(breathing). Many
different actions attach
themselves to these
notes: coloratura,
trills, chords
(multiphonics), double
flageolets. However,
there are not only sound
types, but also impulses,
repetitions, rhythmic
figures and other
elements: composed
elements of belcanto. In
the opera tradition
described above, these
were improvised ornaments
or additions; here they
become composed figures
which originate with the
notes of the melody, but
also pull on them, bend
them, and charge them
with physicality. (Jorg
Birkenkotter).
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