English comments:
Divertimento I and Divertimento II, for two violins were composed in 1996. These two sister compositions have the additional attraction of being unedited works which are representative of the composer's most recent style. This etymological description, which defines a personality rather than an established musical style, takes the form of a succession of contrasting dynamic movements. One of the most outstanding features is the way in which the two instruments break away from their usual range of sounds to create the ideal conditions for suggesting their latent extent of sound possibilities in compositions that could be extended perfectly well into a string quartet. The interplay between the two instruments opens up a whole range of possibilities: short motives in an imitative style often braking out into a repetition of brief themes with a lot of personality, sequences of transformations, repetitive rhythms, etc. All theses show the virtuosity of the players on their own and together and because of their characteristics, they are written in a very clear tonal language, a times, modal, oriental, or even pentatonic. The progression of the movements is governed by a desire for variety: between the fast opening and closing movements there is a sequence of relaxed "andante" -some of which are in an easy two-part canon style- in "scherzzi" -and these are the lightest, most airy fragments of the two Divertimenti. Recordings: Ilia Ioff and Ilia Teplyakov (violins), Columna Musica (1CM0156). --Lluis Millet
Comentarios del Espanol:
Divertimento I y Divertimento II, para dos violines fueron compuestos en el ano 1996. Un atractivo adicional de estas dos composiciones hermanas raya en su condicion de obras ineditas y representativas de la ultima manera del compositor. La acepcion etimologica, que define un caracter mas que una forma musical establecida, se concreta aqui en una sucesion de movimientos contrastados de gran dinamismo. Cabe remarcar la capacidad de los instrumentos para superar su estricto ambito sonoro y crear las condiciones idoneas para sugerir toda la amplitud sonora latente en unas composiciones que, con toda propiedad, podrian ser ampliadas en cuarteto de cuerda. El juego al que se someten los dos instrumentos se halla abierto a multiples posibilidades: breves motivos en estilo imitativo susceptibles de desembocar en elementos tematicos reiterados, poco desarrollados y de fuerte personalidad, mutaciones secuenciales, ritmos obstinados, etc., que propician el virtuosismo individual y colectivo de los ejecutantes y que, por sus caracteristicas, se inscriben en un lenguaje tonal muy claro, ocasionalmente abierto, tambien, a trazos modales y orientalizantes e, incluso, a lo pentatonico. El criterio que rige la progresion de los movimientos responde a simples razones de variedad: entre los fragmentos extremos rapidos, inicial y conclusivo, una sucesion de "andante" distendidos -a veces en un descanso estilo canonico a dos voces- y de "scherzo" los fragmentos mas ingravidos y aereos de los Divertimenti. Grabaciones: Ilia Ioff y Ilia Teplyakov (violines), Columna Musica (1CM0156). --Lluis Millet.
