Zipangu (1980, revision 1985) for string orchestra
Composer: Claude Vivier (1948 - 1983)
Performers: I Musici de Montréal, dir. Yuli Turovsky
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"Melody, still and again, still and forever renewed: once more, it is a melody that is the central point of a Vivier work, this time, Zipangu. As though his instrumental music should sing-with the voice of both the Orient and its fetish character, Marco Polo (Zipangu is a derivation of the name the Chinese gave to Japan). Vivier wanted this melody scrambled, and used various bowing techniques to accomplish his goal.
Listening it becomes clear that much of the work’s interest also flows from the way the strings are treated. The same melody may be heard as a dialogue between high and low-pitched strings, from which a violin solo emerges from time to time. The strings alternate between high lyricism and great darkness; the low-range passages create a sinister impression, and the higher reaches seem deliberately screeching. Amongst all this are some important moments, at times light and bouncy; at others sudden, violent, and breathless. A Vivier in full control of his musical means delivers this work to listeners, complete with some rousing final harmonies in the strings that almost assume the sound, and certainly have the authority, of a choir of trumpets."
Martine Rhéaume
Source: smcq.qc.ca/smcq/en/oeuvre/2298...
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"The music of Claude Vivier (1948-1983) is a reflection of his personal life. Although a student of Stockhausen, Vivier ignored the avant-garde dictum against the expression of individuality through music. Both directly and indirectly, the themes of his compositions were inspired by his unknown family origins, his search for his mother, his religious vocation, his homosexuality and even his premature death. The forty-nine works composed during his brief career comprise the impressive legacy of an individual as passionate about life as he was about music. [...]
In the fall of 1976, Vivier undertook a long trip through Asia. It was during his stay on the island of Bali that his ideas concerning the role of the artist in society were solidified. This initiated a new period in the stylistic evolution of his music, a period characterized by affirmation and certainty. He said upon his return: "I realize that this journey was, above all, one of self-discovery". This was the period of his brilliant Shiraz, of Orion, of the opera Kopernikus. Most importantly, it was in the cycle of pieces for voice and instrumental ensemble, particularly Lonely Child and Prologue pour un Marco Polo, that the unique style of Vivier crystallized.
This style is characterized by the voice, by words sung in a language invented by the composer, by striking melodies. Harmonized by complex overtone series, these modal melodies pierce different textures, their points of departure and arrival most often homorhythmic. The tonal core, with leading note, differs from one phrase to another, rendering it panchromatic. This all occurs in time according to a complex arithmetical grid. [...]
The interweaving of his personal and professional life, of the real and the imaginary, reveal an outstanding global awareness and define a possible future for humankind, for whom Vivier was a messenger, an aerolite passing through our world."
Jaco Mijnheer, 1993, translated by Elisabeth Wood
Source: www.musiccentre.ca/node/37312...
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