(English Version) Search for sonorities on guitar - 1st. Part

The music of the twentieth century has brought an importance for sound as a propitious material in the search for the non-hierarchization of functions that Tonalism has imposed as a school of composition for centuries. The possibilities were opened by the pioneer Ruidismo (noiseness) and by the Atonal, Dodecaphonism and Serialism systems, which have found in the Sound Object musical ideas to dialogue. The guitar acts in that area as a vast field of possibilities; its physical components and its conformation provoke diverse uses, as well as the inflection of extraordinary materials to act together with the instrument, such as metals, paper and common utensils. The occurrence of the machine and a technique expanded by musicians performing along with composers have increased the number of works. In the 21^st century, this aspect continues and more works emerge every day.

We are going to start a series of appreciations about the sonorities and the guitar in contemporary music.

Jorge Antunes (1942) is a Carioca composer based in Brasilia, where he performs countless activities; an artist revered for his performance in New Music in Brazil, avant-garde and politically engaged.

I approach the Solitária Noite (2015) [Lonely Night], from Antunes authorship, dedicated to Adelia Issa and recorded by her and Edelton Gloeden in CD named Puertas (CD - Selo SESC, 2017) - a beautiful meeting of literature and music - having in that Antunes song a work that uses sonorities, in the case, by means of an object, a glass of glass.

Antunes used this sonnet by the Portuguese poet Bocage (1765-1805):

Night vision

(Made in India)

Midnight would be; I walk

In my palm groves I cried my fate;

Behold, at the sound of a sudden moan

I look, and I see a shadow in the air turning:

Who are you, Guirá? (I ask him arching);

Who are you, who are you, oh evil Lémure?

"I am the spirit (says) of Saladin,

Whose you must had read the miserable case::

"De Grisalda the betrayals I still regret

Of the lonely night among the horrors,

And the eyes, you blind mortal, open up, I purpose:"

"Do not lay more any clamor out for Natércia;

Bury the disloyal in oblivion:

Look at the tragic end of my loves! "

Form - It is a work in the form of a song, for voice and guitar, which overflows its traditional sphere by the sonorities that are expressed, in this case the sonority obtained by the use of glass in the strings, as well special requests to the voice.

In a short introduction (10 bars), the guitar plays and already shows the sonorities obtained with the use of the glass vessel. The Chant joins the guitar to start the first section (A, measure 11) into the first strophe, with tonal aspects, but with a certain harmonic extension. The second section (B, measure 29) occurs along with the second strophe and here the sonorities idea is brought to both guitar and voice; in the third section (A '- measure 50) there is re-exhibition of initial ideas, but part to intensify in almost improvised style on the verse ...Of the lonely night among the horrors ... and ends with the resumption of the initial section (A-codeta, measure 70). To sum up, it would be: A•B•A’•A-codeta.

Content - In this work, Bocage is honored by Antunes for the 250^th anniversary of the poet's birth, and there are more works by Antunes with texts by this Portuguese consecrated. This sonnet especially speaks of unrequited love, in a ghostly meeting with Saladin, prototype of chivalrous love.

Materials - The guitar acts by a double conformation: a traditional configuration, doleful, near to the voice, and another that extrapolates till the extended technique, with procedures like the arpejo and sliding the glass cup on the strings of the guitar. The Soprano’s voice is also divided between the prosody of the song (Brazilian sense) and the spoken-sing and more specific instructions, as guttural.

In a short introduction, we can see that guitar will do a mixed musical speech between traditional and experimental sonorities.

Soprano and guitar dialogue in the experimental area.

Process - I think that the process is bringing the form, content and materials of Solitária Noite by a representative way; if by going beyond reality it is narrated a meeting with a spirit, the poet Bocage transcends the idea of the real – and asks us for an adherence to the imaginary –, the composer Antunes has succeeded in expressing the poem’s essence with sonorities that go beyond and together to traditional guitar / voice means.

Antunes as a connoisseur of the solfeggio of the "new sounds" (1) masterfully applies this scheme between the guitar sounds by harmonies of extended chords and promoting, in the same musical speech, to put of sound objects in an articulated, expressive way; the same happens with the voice.

The time (duration in seconds) of those articulations with the glass is suggested by the composer and the resulting sound is a series of glissandos and portamentos, disproportionate deliberately, as the composer comments (ANTUNES, 2004, p.116).

The song’s title comes from the second verse of the third stanza ...Of the lonely night between the horrors... whose vocal treatment receives a highlight in the work, being the only verse repeated in the musical work.

The duo - The interpretation of works in this trend requires a "militant" rendition and both Adélia Issa and Edelton Gloeden have vast experience in this field. Gloeden is one of the first guitarists of those who included contemporary music in his performances; on the stage of the Festival Música Nova (Santos - São Paulo) and similar events he has made countless premieres, and since the 1970s Henze and Brouwer are esteemed by him, as well as Santoro in the 1980s, just to exemplify some of the many names. Adélia Issa has the necessary scenic gesture for that repertoire and throughout her career she has been attentive to new works; she’s a fundamental partner of chamber music with the guitar.

^{(1) Antunes has wrote a book collection, "Sons Novos", about several instruments, furthermore he is the author of the well-known book "Notação na Música Contemporânea".}

More

ANTUNES, Jorge. Sons Novos para o Piano a Harpa e o Violão.Brasília: Sistrum, 2004.

_____. Notação na Música Contemporânea. Brasília: Sistrum, 1989.

Score by Sistrum Publisher

CD Puertas - Adélia Issa & Edelton Gloeden

https://www.sescsp.org.br/online/selo-sesc/588_ADELIA+ISSA+E+EDELTON+GLOEDEN+PUERTAS#/tagcloud=lista