Date 2023/Jul/16
Performer(s)
Ensemble Contemporâneo da Póvoa de Varzim
Nuno Coelho (conductor)
Organization/Event Póvoa de Varzim International Music Festival
Venue Cine-teatro Garret
Town Póvoa de Varzim
Country Portugal
Thrust resulted from the commission of the 16th Póvoa de Varzim International Music Festival for the 20 musicians of the Ensemble Contemporâneo da Póvoa de Varzim, the Festival's resident ensemble. The piece is dedicated to Raul da Costa, whose brilliant journey I have followed since the beginning, and who, as Director of the Festival, commissioned it from me.
The title refers to an idea of propulsion, of dynamism, and the piece is structured in successive waves of energy, waves that end up dissolving into a state of high entropy, as the energy dissipates in a non-linear way. The idea of waves, of successive waves, obviously came from the ocean, which surrounds both Póvoa and the area where I live, and whose presence has always been important in my music, not necessarily as a source of descriptive imitation, but as a source of ideas abstract structures that allow music to be organized in a certain way and not another. Clarinet 1, although not necessarily a “traditional” soloist, assumes a leading role in the work, and everything that surrounds him comes from this line in the form of comments, counterpoints, resonances, imitations, shadows, echoes, and so on. Also the alternation between regularity and irregularity of pulse, as well as the somewhat spectral harmony are born both from my long-standing interests and from the idea I have of the dynamics of the ocean and what it inspires me.
Sérgio Azevedo
