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Ishmael Zghoul
Music Research Assignment 8
Although her work as a composer has seen experimentations with unconventional
instrumentations, the Fibonacci Sequence, the Golden Ratio, as well as microtonality, Sofia hates
the word avant-garde. She feels that it is dangerous to art when composers think of themselves
as avant-gardists because accent on innovation leads to loss of depth, which she believes is
what composers should strive for.
Concordanza
This piece is one of Gubaidulinas earlier works, written for a premiere in Prague in
1970. It is written for a chamber ensemble comprised of flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn,
percussion, violin, viola, cello, and double bass. The piece features a contrasting duality of
concordant and discordant colors. Flowing melodic lines and consonant musical dialogue are
opposed with pizzicato attacks in the strings, trills in the woodwinds, vocal whispers, and chaotic
percussion sections.
I think that an artist of my type does not answer, but poses questions. Composition by
itself is a question. Sofia Gubaidulina
Works Cited
Gubaidulina, Sofia . Interview with Bruce Duffie. Classical 97, WNIB, 2001.
Griffiths, Paul . "12-13_SofiaGubaidulina_ProgramNotes.pdf." Miller Theatre at Columbia.
http://www.millertheatre.com/Pdf/ProgramNotes/1213_SofiaGubaidulina_ProgramNotes.pdf (accessed February 6, 2014).
Lukomsky, Vera , and Sofia Gubaidulina. "Sofia Gubaidulina: "My Desire Is Always to Rebel,
Ishmael Zghoul
Music Research Assignment 8
to Swim against the Stream!"." Perspectives of New Music 36, no. 1 (1998): 5-41. Sofia
Gubaidulina: "My Desire Is Always to Rebel, to Swim against the Stream!" (accessed
February 6, 2014).
Wikimedia Foundation. "Sofia Gubaidulina." Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sofia_Gubaidulina (accessed February 6, 2014).
Stevenson, Joseph. "Concordanza, for chamber ensemble." AllMusic.
http://www.allmusic.com/composition/concordanza-for-chamber-ensemblemc0002424699 (accessed February 6, 2014).