Atanas Ourkouzounov
Les Productions D’Oz : 15 pages
This Bulgarian composer/guitarist writes in a style that is like no one else, very rhythmic, often involving unusual time signatures with a heavy degree of dissonance throughout. As a result his music is rarely, if ever, even remotely easy on the fingers, as indeed is the case here.
This latest two – movement work is exceptionally difficult to play. It begins with Ground, set in 11/8 and utilizing two constantly moving voices, with an occasional third harmony intervening too. Not only is it set in 11, but the actual parts constantly cross over giving the listener the actual feel of an improvisation at work, as without the score |I would doubt that anyone would know it was in 11 /8 .Towards the end the piece turns a little bit slower and then finally into a Lento close over a final chord of E, an F a semitone above, and an Eb three octaves above that, via an artificial harmonic.
The other movement Spark, is a Presto Preciso at 186 crotchets a minute, but written in a constant run of quavers again often in two voices, with odd moments of just the one line. Again a slightly slower section occurs before a return to the opening speed, and then finally a Molto Rapido 218 crotchets a minute closing idea, that ends the piece with a repeat ad- lib section fading away , like those old records that used to have fade – outs back in the day.
This is only for the technically advanced players, and moreover those who like their music modal, and chromatic in style
Chris Dumigan
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