Fantasia "Liberazione"

by Olli Virtaperko

for harpsichord (in meantone temperament)

Description

Fantasia "Liberazione" is a solo work for harpsichord in the traditional 1/4 comma meantone temperament (from Eb to G#). The piece begins as a chromatic chaconne with descending bass line, gradually starting to fall apart both rhythmically and harmonically and eventually transforming into a fantasy-like nonmeasured prelude.

In the piece the choice of the meantone temperament serves two main purposes. In the beginning the false wolf intervals (especially the fifth G#-Eb) are deliberately placed in the strong consonant beats in order to create disruptive ambiguity to an otherwise traditional texture. As the process of ”liberazione” starts taking place, the tension between eight perfectly tuned major thirds and four more or less false thirds are used as a key affective resource. The fascinating variety of differently sounding intervals in the meantone temperament is explored to full in the cadenza, where the series of nine descending parallel chords lead the piece to its tranquil epilogue.

- Olli Virtaperko, April 2018

Instrumentation

cemb

Category

Works for Solo Instrument

Premiere

Marianna Henriksson, 17 June 2018, Helsinki

Commisioned by / dedications

Commissioned by Marianna Henriksson

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• Marianna Henriksson plays Olli Virtaperko's Fantasia "Liberazione"

Archive number

MF33925

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