For Chamber Ensemble.Commissioned by the Hebrides Ensemble and first performed on their Scottish tour in March 2010.In Seven Pierrot Miniatures I took the Commedia dell’arte character Pierrot as my primary sourceof inspiration. Other more tenuous links to Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire also served as a starting point in forming the general shape of the work. The piece is cast in seven short movements whereas the Schoenberg comprises threesets of seven movements. Although there is no part for voice I have taken seven poems by Albert Giraud (none of them set in Pierrot Lunaire) as points of departure:1. The Clouds2. Decor3. Absinthe4.Suicide5. The Church6. Sunset7. The HarpEach movement takes its impetus from the corresponding poem but in the piece as a whole I wanted to explore the extreme contrasts of the multi-faceted character ofPierrot in a musical setting. There is an almost mirror-like quality to the form of the piece and a sense of ending where it has begun: movements 1 3 5 and 7 are closely linked both in terms of their musical material and asense of melancholy dream-like quality and longing. Movements 2 and 6 are also strongly connected with allusions to the more mischievous violent side of Pierrot. Movement 4 serves as a sort-of pivotal point within the work juxtaposing a surreal shimmering calm with brutal outbursts. There is never any direct repetition yet there is a strong sense of material returning and mutating as the workunfolds.InstrumentationFlute doubling piccoloClarinet in Bb doubling Bass Clarinet in BbViolin doubling ViolaCelloPiano

Par ELIA ALESSIO. Commissioned by I Solisti della Scala for the CD ''Octet'', a project conceived by the conductor Andrea Vitello, which includes also the first recording in the performance of I Solisti della Scala of the Octet by Stravinsky and the first world recording of the Octet by Peter Eötvös, the Octet by Alessio Elia is described by the Italian musicologist Guido Barbieri in these terms: ''In the Octet written in 2016 by Alessio Elia, the musical elements, or their strongly contrasted combination, significantly shape the structure of the piece. The utilization of different scales - a technique defined by the composer as ''polysystemism'' - further emphasizes his concept of sound as a phenomenal entity.'' / Date parution : 2022-07-23/ Répertoire / Ensemble de Chambre