Footnotes
Year 2006
First performance November 2006 (Namur - IMEP)
Instrumentation harp solo
Duration 5’
Score on demand
details
Compulsory piece for the ‘Concours International de Harpe Félix Godefroid’ 2006
Dedicated to Sophie Hallynck
This is a rather virtuoso piece: a harp has seven pedals, each linked to a note in the scale. In other words, the pedals enable three sounds per string: the alterations of a single note (natural, flat and sharp). As soon as a note is played, the foot on the pedal raises or lowers it immediately. The piece begins mysteriously with a rhythmic and contrapuntal in- terplay of small canons and scattered and unexpected melodic imitations. This effervescence grows until the central passacaglia, a Sufi melody that whirls round before dissipating in the distance. I composed this theme in the musical style of the dervishes, based on fourths and fifths from the language of Anatolia. I owe a lot to my first composition teacher at the Conservatoire of Ankara, Ilhan Baran, an open and generous man, as fond of contemporary scores as he was of the musical roots of the Ottoman tradition.