CONCERTO CONCERTANTE PER SEI INSTRUMENTI (1998-99)

     Two Seraphims cry out to each other: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts" (Isaiah 6:3).  To me, this heraldic and awesome image of two magnificent, fiery, winged Angels is both a most grand and most intimate poetic revelation.  In his 1610 Vespers, Monteverdi famously sets this passage in Duo Seraphim, a concerto for few voices. Nearly four centuries later, Isaiah 6:3 embodies both the inspirational and essential and essential propelling force behind my Concerto Concertante, a work that includes giving homage in title and spirit to two divinely inspired artistic heralds: Monteverdi and Raphael.

      Monteverdi's Seraphims' vocal concerto is but one of several concerto ensembles employed in the sixteenth century and most of the seventeenth. As used in the early and mid-Baroque, a concerto refers to a group of various instruments or voices or both.  My work's title uses this original meaning - the more modern soloistic connotations and implications (as evident in the piece) are suggested by the 'concertante' designation.

     The image of two Seraphims emerges not only in the Concerto Concertante's 3-movement structure where two large movements flank a brief, connecting Interludium, but also in the specific musical design of the opening Duo Seraphim: Two overlapping Fibonacci series articulate key musical points as well as larger musical sections (planes) that intersect shortly before the end of the movement and lead to a final, virtuostic flurry.

     The Omaggio a Raphael considers and takes inspiration from the native of Urbino's mastery of dramatic equilibrium and exchanges.  Energy couple with restlessness abound in his 'classic' figures, forms, and compositions (e.g. angels, characters from Scripture, scenes from antiquity).  Whether overt or latent, vitality and intensity are central to the movements and rhythms springing from his canvasses.  Similarly in the Omaggio, a 'classic' Rondo/variation form with a chorale ritornello dramatically exchanges free and fluid with vigorous and even violent gestures.  Calm and stillness and vigor and animation go hand-in-hand; they constantly counterbalance each other in a movement of energy that is restless at its core.

     The Omaggio is both general and specific.  Raphael's Transfiguration looms large in this movement: the conflict and counterpoint of colors, the simultaneous juxtaposition and isolation of registers, suspensions. Lastly there is that high thread heard in a solitary violin, that seemingly untouchable and undisturbed line that is to the musical texture what Christ is to the apostles and the possessed child...