Coates: "Symphony No. 4" Mvt.1

Gloria Coates: Symphony No. 4, "Chiaroscuro" (1984/90) Mvt. 1: Illumination. Wolf-Dieter Hauschild, conductor. Image: "Leonardo's Apocalypses" by Gloria Coates. The following program notes were written by Giselher Schubert, translated by Susan Marie Praeder: "Symphony No. 4 is titled 'Chiaroscuro', referring to the use of light and shade in painting. In Symphony No. 4, doubtless one of the composer's principle works, this term paraphrases brightened darkness, an 'Illumination in Tenebris', as Gloria Coates entitled her Symphony No. 2. She dedicated this symphony to the memory of her father. "Illumination," the first movement of the three movement work expresses mourning, anguish, and lament. At the core of the music there is an imaginary chorale which migrates through the groups of instruments. According to a personal communication of the composer, the chorale is based on 'Dido's Lament' from Purcell's Dido and Aeneas and is harmonized tonally (g minor). The chorale is counterpointed by rhythmic patterns in ostinato-like repetition in the percussion part imbuing the music with a ritual-like atmosphere, by glissandi in the strings which make the tonality of the imaginary chorale seem strangely unreal, and by semitones in glissando -- like descent in the woodwinds with the effect of lamentation. The dense musical process intensifies the element of grief, pain, and lament in the music, which then breaks up into an amorphous and ambiguous timbre in the whirl of bass drum, triangle, and flexatone. The central movement, "Mystical Plosives", expounds melodic, rhythmic, and sound material used somewhat like plosives. Paradoxically, the music expresses something which we perceive but hardly understand. The final movement, "Dream Sequence", has the effect of an almost dreamed resume of the two previous movements with free associations. It clearly draws upon their musical style and expressive character but perceives them as if behind a sound veil. The veil soon blurs their contours, then dissolves them completely, and then fuses with them for the formation of new structures."

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[TaSSs22]

@Barisof Totally AGREE



[Barisof]

AWESOME

[BravuraK]

Many thanks for the information you provide....music is haunting .......

[spatz0r]

breathtaking use of dido's lament.

[Kerguelen1]

Instant Favorite!

[johnnynoirman]

POWERFUL!

[vandertop2]

Wow. I love most of Coates works.

[Gito360]

this is a treasure. gloria coates has done it again. so powerful.

[stanchinsky]

Great upload!! Thanks for sharing...