Arabesco Infinito, by Alejandro Viñao

Arabesco Infinito - for marimba and vibraphone
Performed by Kunihiko Komori and Georgi Videnov
Mallets: M32 - M112 - M114

http://vicfirth.com/concert/chamber/V...

ABOUT THE PIECE:
I first thought of writing an 'arabesque' for marimba and vibraphone as I was hearing my son Matteo practice Debussy's second arabesque at the piano. Shortly afterwards I considered Debussy's piece in the context of ideas about repetition derived from classical Islamic art, Chaos Theory and fractal geometry.

In traditional Islamic art, ornamental textures are often constructed from a single geometrical figure multiplied in all direction in one plane creating an infinite pattern. In Arabesco Infinito I attempted to emulate this kind of construction.

Similar ideas of 'creative unpredictable repetition' are found in fractal geometry and chaos theory. However, chaos theory also introduces the idea of attractors, defined as states towards which a system or process may evolve. What I found fascinating in this concept was that although a system may be moving towards an attractor, it may appear to be doing so in a chaotic way. This suggests that order may be created out of chaos and that perhaps an act of creation may need chaos as a necessary condition. I wanted to have a similar kind of motion in my piece, a directionality that at times might seem chaotic but was always driven by the repetition of an initial cell or pattern. I wanted to create music where a very simple rhythmic and melodic figure - and arabesque- would evolve in unpredictable ways but always in the direction of a node or point of attraction. These points of attraction appear in the piece as 'grooves', repetitive periodic or quasi periodic rhythms that our body may comfortably settle into. The movement or gravitation from one groove to the next is the central process of the piece, its complex story, in short, what the piece is about.

In Arabesco Infinito I was interested in the notion that repetition (that dreaded monster of contemporary culture) can be mindless and even dehumanising or truly creative in a profound and mysterious way.

-- A.V. December 2006

ABOUT THE COMPOSER:
Alejandro Vinao (b. April 9, 1951) studied composition with the Russian composer Jacobo Ficher in Buenos Aires. In 1975 he moved to Britain where he continued his studies at the Royal College of Music and the City University in London. He has been resident in Britain since then. In 1988 he was awarded a PhD. D. in composition at the City University.

In 1994 Alejandro Viñao was awarded the Guggenheim fellowship in composition. His piece Apocryphal Dances was premiered by the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London in 1997. The same year Viñao was invited to Japan to present his music in a Portrait Concert. Later that year, his chamber opera Rashomon was premiered in Germany. This work was commissioned by ZKM for the opening of their new building in Karlsruhe. Since then Rashomon has been produced in Paris, London and Gothenburg.

Viñao has written music for a wide range of musical genre including opera, music-theatre, choral, instrumental and electro-acoustic compositions. He has also been involved with the creation of multimedia works, has composed music for some 20 films and produced several radio programmes for the BBC.

ABOUT THE PERFORMERS:
http://vicfirth.com/concert/chamber/V...