Omaggio a Gesualdo (2017) - For String Orchestra

Performance Parts are Rental Only: Please email info@nathanartsmusic.com for a price quote, giving the name of your ensemble and performance date[s] Full Recording: Instrumentation For String Orchestra Commissioned by the New York Classical Players Program Note "Omaggio a Gesualdo" (2013) is inspired by Gesualdo's madrigal "Ahi, disperata vita" from Madrigali a cinque voci Libro terzo (1594). It uses Gesualdo's work as a model, recasting his gestures and musical motives in my own language, while loosely adhering to the form of his work. I have long been an admirer of Gesualdo's music, especially his use of harmony and jarring chord progressions that keep his work sounding as modern today as it did four hundred years ago. In revisiting Gesualdo's music for this homage, I noticed a kinship in Gesualdo's approach to harmony with my own – he frequently links distantly related chords in succession, while I frequently combine disparate chords in superimposition, creating new composite ha