Passaporte for Viola | José Valente

Description

Considering the restricted duration commissioned for Passaporte, I decided to create a kind of Étude/Caprice. Almost all the études that one learns during his academic studies are short pieces that focus in one single technical detail, relevant for the musical evolution of the player. In this piece, the chosen technique unravels the possibility for the violist to improvise, while revealing other significant elements of any musical architecture: harmony and rhythm. In order to achieve a high quality improvised musical discourse, and to motivate an impressive, explosive and virtuosic execution, I decided to write the improvised solo, provoking a very faithful illusion of the selected technique.
Therefore, Passaporte symbolizes two purposes. To tell an adventurous, funny encounter at the customs of any chosen airport, imagined by the listener and executer according to their own experiences of such events. To announce the artistic universe that characterizes the violist and composer of this piece (like a “passport”, a musical document that identifies the author) through an apparently improvised virtuosity, where the viola assumes several roles, dividing itself between the exhibition of the theme, its accompaniment and improvised solo, and evokes musical options influenced by styles such as jazz, classical Indian music and Mário Laginha’s music.
In the score you can find the indication of each role (accompaniment, melody, solo). The dynamics, as well as the constant shifts between pizzicato and arco, are helpful to clarify the roles in question. I haven’t written any fingering so that the interpreter can choose the fingerings that allow her/him to play at the desired speed with comfort.
Duration: ca. 5′ | Pages: 11 | Year: 2018