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joão godinho | composer

Tumbling, tumbling down ("De queda em queda" in Portuguese)

Picture
This piece is available in two instrumentations: 
   
    > string quartet and piano
    > flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano 

Duration: ca. 9'
Composed in: 2006 (revised in 2011)
Dedicated to: João Madureira

Premier: by Orchestrutopica in 2006 at Culturgest



program notes

This piece is originally called "De queda em queda", an idiomatic expression in Portuguese. A rough english translation this expression would be "Tumbling, tumbling down". The word "queda" means tumble, fall, plop, drop... The expression "De queda em queda" is used to describe someone or something that tumbles consecutively or step by step. In Portuguese, the idiomatic expression may be completed according to the context, adding to it a successful or tragic outcome. 

The piece’s title has a meaning both in personal and musical perspectives. 

In the personal perspective, this piece represents the conclusion of a journey begun in the year 2000, when I enrolled in the composition degree at the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa. Although it was mostly composed between August and September 2006, this piece has crossed four years of this journey since its first sketches were drawn in 2002, under the guidance of João Madureira, to whom it is dedicated. The quedas (the tumbles) are the doubts, hesitations, apprehensions and frustrations that often accompany a music composition student during his academic journey. My quedas. My tumbles. The piece's dedicatee is someone who helped me get back on my feet after many consecutive tumbles.

In a musical perspective the title relates mainly to the type of gestures that were used. 

© João Godinho






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