Soave sia il vento

Andrew Ford

General Info

Year: 2005
Duration: c. 4:00
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Australia
Cost: Score and Parts - $0.00   |   Score Only - $0.00

Instrumentation

Marimba
Vibraphone

Program Notes

For vibraphone and marimba
Commissioned by Callum Moncrieff, funded by a composer fellowship from the Music Board of the Australia Council for the Arts
First performance by Defying Gravity (Callum Moncrieff, marimba, and Kitt Byfield, vibraphone)
West Australian Academy of Performing Arts, Perth, 9 September 2005

Soave sia il vento' ('May the wind be gentle') are the words of the trio in Act I of Mozart's opera Così fan tutte. Fiordiligi and Dorabella, together with the manipulative Don Alfonso, are farewelling their lovers in the mistaken belief that they are off to war.

I wish I could say that the decision to allude to this music in my percussion duo was the result of some clever postmodern reference, an ironic play on words, a comment on love (or war), or even an early 250 th birthday present to Mozart himself. The truth is less interesting. Not long after Callum Moncrieff asked me to write this piece for him I imagined the marimba playing the lulling accompaniment to Mozart's trio, and thereafter I was never able entirely to banish the idea. My Soave, then, begins with a nod to the beginning of Mozart's trio and ends with a nod to the end. In between it wanders through some less Mozartian harmonies, but always retains the semi-quaver pattern of the trio's accompaniment.

The piece is dedicated to Callum Moncrieff and, after much prevarication, was composed while I was lucky enough to be the recipient of a fellowship from the Music Board of the Australia Council for the Arts.- AF

Recent Performances

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Works for Percussion by this Composer

A Walk to the Japanese Garden - Vibraphone; Voice - Soprano
After the Ball Was Over - Percussion Quartet
Alchemy (Ford) - Marimba Quartet; Bass Clarinet
Boat Song - Marimba; Bass Clarinet
Composition in Blue, Grey and Pink - Multiple Percussion
Getting Blue - Vibraphone; Alto Saxophone
Jouissance - Vibraphone; Trumpets (2)
Mondriaan - Multiple Percussion; Flute
Palindrome: Jesus Meets St Veronica - Multiple Percussion; Clarinet; Bass
Soave sia il vento - Percussion Duo - Marimba/Vibraphone
Tattoo - Percussion Sextet (12 Timpani); 4 Pianos
The Armed Man - Multiple Percussion
The Art of Puffing: 17 elegies for Thomas Chatterton - Multiple Percussion; Bass Clarinet or Alto Saxophone
The Crantock Gulls - Percussion Duo
War and Peace - Marimba; Violin
Winterreise - Multiple Percussion - Sleigh Bells Solo
You Must Sleep, but I Must Dance - Multiple Percussion; Viola