Tasalsul IV (2022) – ca. 6'

viola
Premiere Performance
This work has not been premiered. Please inquire for details.
PROGRAM NOTE
Tasalsul IV, or “sequence” in Arabic, takes its name from Luciano Berio’s Sequenze. This work explores the viola’s vast lyrical capability from its opening high tessitura to its low musings on the C string during the piece’s central section. This tasalsul begins with a descending melodic fragment in the key of G-sharp bayati, a microtonally inflected mode borrowed from Arab music. By the time the violist descends into the pitches of its lowest string, the music modulates to C bayati, a “distantly”-related key from the opening. The end of the work harkens back to the beginning, with its return to the “home” key of G-sharp bayati and high, yet cantabile harmonics reaching into the stratosphere.