Instrumentation
guitar
Duration
5 Minutes
Commission
2021 Miami International GuitART Festival Composition Competition
Short Synopsis
This is a narrative piece, meaning it describes an experience / a state of mind that attempts to lead the listener on a journey through their own subconscious through its various tonal landscapes and contrasts.
It begins in the realm of a pleasant dream, expressed through the dissolved tensions of a C-major tonality, which then quickly transitions to a jagged, complex terrain, using chromaticism and other dramatic extended techniques such as pizzicato, complex rhythms, etc. Sometimes, the dream tries to return, but in a frighteningly altered way; it reveals the simple truth that the dreamer is hopelessly trapped in this strange sonic world. A virtuoso cadence follows, cementing the dominance of the darkness that has taken over the dream world, and finally yielding to the nightmare itself.
The nightmare begins in a muted state and grows as its main theme is carried through a series of variations, eventually ending in a danse macabre, in which the nightmare laughs at the powerless dreamer, so far off the beaten path. The macabre humor of the dance gives way to a desperate coda, which references elements from the cadence and culminates in a climax before finally leading to a moment of silence, as the dreamer slowly returns to reality. The dreamer suddenly awakens from this terrifying nightmare. He screams loudly in shock and anguish as the horror of this subconscious experience breaks into his waking life.
A word of warning for the faint-hearted: Be careful when fighting monsters, so you don’t become a monster yourself. And if you decide to look into the abyss, the abyss will also look into you.
Performance rights
Sean Robert Silva
kontakt@seansilva.de
(+49) 157 325 289 57
Lessingstraße 28
76135 Karlsruhe
Deutschland
© Copyright 2017 by Sean Robert Silva