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Arson, for piano solo* ("Fogo Posto" in Portuguese)
Comissioned by: Festival do Estoril / MUSMA 2011
Duration: ca. 8'
Composed in: 2011
Dedicated to: Joana Gama
Premier in Portugal: July 26, 2011 | Festival do Estoril | by Joana Gama
Premier in Slovenia: August 2, 2011 | Festival Ljubljana | by Nina Prešiček
Premier in Spain: July, 2011 | Festival Int. de Música y Danza de Granada | by Daan Vandewalle
Premier in Serbia: October 23, 2011 | Belgrado Music Festival | by Lidija Bizjak
Duration: ca. 8'
Composed in: 2011
Dedicated to: Joana Gama
Premier in Portugal: July 26, 2011 | Festival do Estoril | by Joana Gama
Premier in Slovenia: August 2, 2011 | Festival Ljubljana | by Nina Prešiček
Premier in Spain: July, 2011 | Festival Int. de Música y Danza de Granada | by Daan Vandewalle
Premier in Serbia: October 23, 2011 | Belgrado Music Festival | by Lidija Bizjak
context of commission
The month of August, 2010, was tragic for Portugal's forests. During the summer, more than 15,000 fires were recorded, representing more than 100,000 hectares of devastation (more than 1% of the country). It was unsettling to follow this tragedy in the media, and it was especially disturbing to find out that the authorities estimated that at least 40% of the fires were intentional (arson).
I received the challenge to write a piano piece inspired by the theme “Liszt and Landscape” on one of these hot August days.
As a rule, the destructive acts that human kind inflicts on nature have identifiable commercial, cultural or demographical motives behind them. There are, however, unusual cases that do not fall under any of these categories, such as pyromania. Arson, when committed by a pyromaniac, is an isolated case in which a human being destroys nature with the singular goal of experiencing the euphoria of destruction and the visual and audible show that fires provides.
I received the challenge to write a piano piece inspired by the theme “Liszt and Landscape” on one of these hot August days.
As a rule, the destructive acts that human kind inflicts on nature have identifiable commercial, cultural or demographical motives behind them. There are, however, unusual cases that do not fall under any of these categories, such as pyromania. Arson, when committed by a pyromaniac, is an isolated case in which a human being destroys nature with the singular goal of experiencing the euphoria of destruction and the visual and audible show that fires provides.
program notes
Arson is a musical hallucination narrated from the mind of a pyromaniac who commits the crime and stays to watch the spectacle. The piece fantasizes about the trip for the senses that the ignition sparks in the perpetrator as he watches the spreading of the flames and contemplates the colors and textures that emanate from leaves, trees, bushes and earth. He lets himself be hypnotized by the sound of crackling all around him and listens to inflammable fragments of music that melt in the heat of the adrenaline that invades him. And he hallucinates… he hallucinates about Liszt, virtuoso like fire. Pyromaniac and fire become one; divine, purifier, voracious, out of control. In the vertigo of this sound furnace he finds serenity – satiating and pacifying – even if ephemeral like fire itself.
© João Godinho
© João Godinho
performance notes
| Arson - Performance Notes_v5.pdf |
score
| João Godinho - Arson (Fogo Posto) para piano solo - v186bw.pdf |
reviews
"(...) a piece of fiery harmony, contrasting with its gracious melody, brilliantly performed by Joana Gama."
28/07/2011 | Zita Ferreira Braga in Jornal Hardmusica
28/07/2011 | Zita Ferreira Braga in Jornal Hardmusica
recording
Performer: Joana Gama
Venue: Centro Cultural de Cascais | July 26 2011 | Festival do Estoril
Recording: Antena 2
Venue: Centro Cultural de Cascais | July 26 2011 | Festival do Estoril
Recording: Antena 2
Musma 2011 (Music Masters on Air)
Here's a video coverage of the MUSMA 2011 meeting that took place in Granada. It's an excellent video. In 5 minutes it draws a good portrait of the context of this comission, and of the ambience that surrounded this meeting of composers, pianists, programmers and radio representatives.